


Biology

by senashenta



Series: Biology + Biology Side Fics [1]
Category: How to Train Your Dragon (Movies), Rise of the Guardians (2012), Rise of the Guardians/How to Train Your Dragon
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Biting, Bullying, Explicit Language, First Kiss, First Relationship, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Forbidden, Humor, M/M, NSFW, Nerd!Jack, Opposites Attract, PNAU, Punk!Hiccup, RPNAU, Secret Relationship, Self-Harm, Smut, Sneaking Around, Sneaking Out, Suicide Attempt, Teasing, Violence, biting kink, forbidden relationship, punk-nerd au, reverse punk-nerd au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-24
Updated: 2014-10-24
Packaged: 2018-02-22 10:13:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 31
Words: 56,288
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2504111
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/senashenta/pseuds/senashenta
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jack is the nervous nerdy new kid in Berk and Hiccup is the resident bad ass punk. No one would have ever imagined they’d end up together, but, well, no one can predict the ups and downs of the human heart, either.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Based off the PNAU/Reverse PNAU created by LarynDawn; Hiccup is a punk, Jack is a nerd. This is my favorite of all the HiJack AUs floating around out there, and this fic is the first HiJack fic I ever wrote. It's also the first multi-chaptered one I've managed to actually get finished at this point in time. :)

  
Artwork by [kit-replica](http://kit-replica.tumblr.com/).

Jack had to wear braces if he ever wanted to have perfect pearly whites like his father. And, joy of joys, he’d had to have them put in the day before he’d transferred to his new high school. Not that he’d cared all _that_ much, since he was all but invisible anyway—no one would even notice that he was around, never mind that he had metal lining his teeth. Or at least that was what he had figured would happen. But then things in his life had a habit of going pear-shaped on a relatively regular basis.

Three days into his new life at Berk High he had run into one Hiccup Haddock—literally. With his backpack slung over one shoulder, his arms full of books and his ipod blaring alt rock into his ears (the crowded hallways made him nervous sometimes and the music was his way of coping with the uncomfortable feeling), he had banged his locker shut with shoulder and turned around—only to slam directly into another person.

Not the first time he had bumbled into someone else. He had more than his share of clumsy moments. Still, the collision forced a surprised yelp from Jack as he bounced off the other body and stumbled backward. He automatically threw his arms out to try to catch himself, making his books fall and scatter against the floor, but despite that he still managed to trip over his own feet and land on his butt on the scuffed linoleum, flailing like an idiot the entire time.

“ _Four eyes_ and you _still_ can’t watch where you’re going? That’s pretty damn pathetic.”

The voice was only audible because one of Jack’s earphones had popped out during his tumble. His glasses had also been jostled downward, leaving him half-blind, and he pushed them back into place, jamming them up to the bridge of his nose hurriedly. “Sorry, I—s-sorry! I wasn’t looking!”

“Yeah, duh, that’s what I just said. Apparently you’re deaf, too.”

Jack was already scrambling to gather his books, trying desperately to avoid getting stepped on in the process, but glanced up fleetingly, just long enough to acknowledge that he had heard the mocking comments before returning his attention to plucking his texts from the ground. He was reaching for his history book when a foot connected with his hand, catching three of his fingers and forcing an involuntary hiss of pain from this throat.

Unexpectedly, the voice that had been previously making fun of him piped up again, snapping this time, almost angry: “ _Hey, watch it!_ ”

Blue eyes blinked from behind thick glass and Jack jerked in surprise when a face abruptly came into view. Thick, unruly auburn hair and a slightly rounded face, more piercings and freckles than he could count and the most astonishing green eyes, narrowed in a faintly displeased expression—and Jack realized he was staring. He swallowed thickly and looked away.

“If you don’t get off the floor, you’re gonna get trampled, dumbass.” The other boy muttered, and shoved a book into Jack’s hands.

Flummoxed, Jack accepted it wordlessly and added it to the pile he had finally begun to accumulate. Eyes darting upward again, he took in the brunet’s athletic appearance and punk-style clothes before clearing his throat and hurrying to pick up the now-collected tower of textbooks. “Uh, thanks. And sorry. And thanks.” Hurrying to stand, he pushed himself up—and actually managed to bang his forehead into the other’s chin.

“Jesus, are you _serious?_ ” The stranger rubbed his jaw, then reached and smucked a hand into the side of Jack’s head. The blow wasn’t hard enough to hurt, but Jack got the point anyway.

“I am _so_ sorry!”

“Whatever, dork.”

Green eyes rolled and the next thing Jack knew he was being hauled to his feet. Stumbling a little, he fell back against the lockers, barely managing to keep himself upright. He steadied himself, then hiked his backpack up his shoulder and shuffled slightly, doing his best to avoid eye contact. The other boy, though, clearly wasn’t going to be accommodating. Rather than leave, he stayed where he was, eyeing Jack sharply.

Finally he spoke again. “What’s your name, kid?”

“Uh… Jack.” He mumbled, wishing he could just get on with going home. His music was still blaring in one ear, but it wasn’t helping with the awkward, fluttery feeling in the pit of his stomach at all.

“Jack what?”

“Frost. Uh, it’s Jack Frost.”

There was silence, followed by a bark of laugher. “You’re shitting me. Your name is Jack Frost? You’re serious? _Jack fucking Frost?_ ”

Jack just frowned a little, eyes sliding back to look at him. He was surprised to note that the other boy seemed to be just a touch shorter than him. “Yeah, Jack Frost.” Then he swallowed, and tried to put a firm tone to his next words, “got a problem with it?”

The brunet’s eyebrows shot upward at that, and a smirk began to turn up the corners of his mouth. He licked his lips, the motion absent, and the edge of a tongue stud glinted in the fluorescent hallway lights. “Heh. Trying to be tough now.” A quick movement and he had one arm up, half-pinning Jack between himself and the lockers. “That’s cute, Jack Frost. Real cute.”

Feeling trapped, Jack shifted from one foot to the other and back again, gaze darting as he looked for an opening to escape. “I, uh… I’ve got to go.” He tried, “s-sorry again.”

The smirk just widened. “Hiccup.”

“I—w-what?”

“My name. It’s Hiccup.”

And then, before Jack could begin to wrap his head around that, the brunet just stepped back again, leaving him with plenty of room to flee, and turned to leave. One hand lifted in a half-wave as he headed down the corridor, the crowd of students parting like water in front of him, scurrying out of the way as he passed.

Jack was still for a long moment after he left, just staring after him blankly. Then one hand lifted to push his glasses up again, more out of nervous habit than a real need to adjust them.

 _Hiccup? And he made fun of_ my _name._


	2. Chapter 2

Hiccup Haddock was attractive, and that was a problem.

Or, at least, it was once Jack realized that the other boy was in four of his classes. He had never really paid attention before, but after he had crashed into Hiccup in the hallway he had started to notice—the brunet was hard to miss, after all. Unlike Jack, who managed to blend into the background pretty much all the time, Hiccup seemed to pride himself on being different, unique and sticking out like a sore thumb.

A little bit of tentative asking around had garnered him some information: Hiccup was the captain of the rugby team and apparently quite the badass. His fashion sense leaned heavily toward the punk side of things, which might have seemed contradictory to him being an athlete, but somehow it seemed to work for him. (Jack particularly liked the black jeans. They were just tight enough in all the right places. The eyeliner was a bit much, though.)

But all of this was only a problem because for some reason, he couldn’t get the other boy off his mind. Certainly it wasn’t the first time he had found someone physically appealing, but he usually managed to move on after a short time, his mind and attention shifting to other things. Nothing ever came of his little crushes anyway.

A month after their first and only meeting, though, Jack still found his thoughts wandering back to Hiccup and the positively puzzling interaction that had gone on between them. It certainly didn’t help that he had caught Hiccup looking at _him_ once or twice in the interim, either, which made absolutely _no sense_ because no one had ever so much as glanced in his direction before.

“Yo, Frostbite.”

Jack was sitting in the corner of the lunch room, sandwich untouched in front of him. He always sat alone—even after a month of attending Berk High he still had no real friends—but he filled the silence and solitude with reading, in this case a ratty, dog-eared sci-fi novel that he had picked up the week before from the used book store downtown.

He was very much engrossed in the story, so he didn’t hear the approaching footsteps or the voice that called to him. He did, however, notice when a hand braced against the side of his head and pushed lightly.

“Huh?”

Surprised, he looked up quickly, even as Hiccup was spinning the chair beside his around and dropping down to sit on it in a backward straddle. Jack nearly dropped his book in surprise. Hiccup just regarded him with an unreadable expression, crossing his arms over the back of the chair.

“You always sit by yourself.” It was a statement, not a question.

Jack shifted in his seat, then swallowed. “Yeah, I, uh,” he began, and then finished lamely with; “yeah.” Adjusting his grip on the novel, he reached to push his glasses up nervously. “Can I… I mean… do you need… something?”

Hiccup didn’t reply right away. Instead he continued to study Jack silently, eyes flitting across the other boy’s features—a shock of surprising white hair and crystal blue eyes, complimented by smooth, pale skin—before sliding lower. Finally his mouth twisted into a faint smirk. Jack had to try very hard not to squirm under the scrutiny.

“We have some classes together.”

“Uh, yeah. I know.”

Bright emerald eyes flitted across Jack’s face again, taking in the anxious look, then moved down to where the other boy was fiddling awkwardly with the paperback in his hands, gripping it tightly. He almost felt bad for the guy. _Almost_.

“So I have practice after school today.”

“I—what?” Confused, Jack’s brows drew together. The movement scrunched his nose a little, making his glasses slip, and he absentmindedly fixed them again. “I mean… you play rugby or something… right?”

Hiccup’s smirk widened a bit, tilting into a half-hazard grin. One dark eyebrow quirked in amusement. “You been askin’ about me, Four-Eyes?”

“No!” Caught red-handed, Jack flushed, blood rushing to his cheeks, and shook his head vehemently. “O-of course not!” The protests were useless, he knew, but he felt the need to make them anyway: “e-everyone knows about you!”

“Mmm… and what do they know, huh?” The punk asked, voice low and teasing now. He leaned in close to listen for the response. “Tell me.”

Jack, for his part, _squeaked_ and leaned away—and Hiccup found that _hilarious_. He started snickering and reached a hand up to ruffle Jack’s straight-as-sin hair, watching with amusement when the other boy flailed at him. By the time he withdrew his arm, the white strands were sticking up in every possible direction. Jack smoothed at them frantically, trying to get some sort of normalcy going again, but in general he failed spectacularly. When he eventually gave up, his cow-licks still had cow-licks.

Hiccup smirked again, pleased with himself. “Like I was saying,” he continued, amused by how flustered Jack continued to be. “I have practice. And you’re meeting me after.”

“Wait—what? No I’m _not_ —”

“ _Yes_ you are.” Hiccup insisted, eyes narrowing. His tone darkened slightly, just enough to be forceful. “Five o’clock at the field. We’re going back to my place. I need help with my biology and you’re gonna tutor me.”

Confused, Jack watched him stand. “B-but I suck at biology!”

Yet another smirk down at him and Hiccup licked his lips, the motion very reminiscent of their first meeting. “Nah, Frosty,” he practically purred, making Jack squirm in his chair; “trust me, you’ll do just _fine_.”


	3. Chapter 3

The rest of the day was pretty much a blur of nerves and confusion and _what was he going to do?_ Because what he’d said was true—he sucked at biology—but for some reason Hiccup seemed to think he could _tutor_ him in it and _what in the hell had even given him that idea?_

Last period was the hardest to get through, mostly because Hiccup was in that class—ancient history— _with_ him and he could feel the other boy’s eyes practically boring into him from his seat at the back of the room for the entire time. Jack, seated closer to the front of the class, only barely managed to focus on the lesson, jotting down notes with a slightly shaky hand and hoping that none of what the teacher was talking about that day would be on the next test because it wasn’t sticking _at all_.

When the bell rang, freeing hundreds of students from their prison for the remainder of the day, Jack made a point of taking his time packing up his notebooks and pens in the hopes that Hiccup would be gone by the time he made for the door. It didn’t work. Once his things were ready to go he stood and turned, slinging his backpack over his shoulder—

And there was Hiccup, leaning against the frame in the doorway, an unimpressed look on his face. Jack hesitated for a second before moving toward the exit and as he drew closer, Hiccup straightened up and pushed the hood of his jacket back. The fabric caught on one of his earrings and he fiddled with it until it was free.

“Took you long enough.” He commented dryly, and then, “just remember: the field at five. Don’t be late.”

“Look, I really don’t think—”

Jack started to try to reason with him, but Hiccup was having none of it. He narrowed his eyes, shot Jack a little _look_ and jabbed a finger into the pale boy’s chest lightly. Jack startled at the contact, then let his eyes slide sideways and hiked his bag up farther on his shoulder.

“You’d better show.”

“I…” He worked his throat dryly before muttering quietly, “yeah, okay. I know. I’ll be there.”

Hiccup nodded shortly, seeming satisfied, and Jack watched as he turned and disappeared into the hallway, presumably to head out for rugby practice. Jack loitered in the history classroom for a long few minutes afterward before he stepped out as well, going to his locker and then to the school library.

Curled up in a chair in the back corner there, he passed the time doing homework—and then, when he was finished with that, reading the same ratty paperback he had been engrossed in during lunch hour. Or, at least, he _tried_ to read. His focus wasn’t really there, but he skimmed the text anyway. Only when he found himself re-reading the same page for the fifth time with absolutely _no idea_ what it said did he finally give up.

Sighing in frustration, he shoved the book back into his bag and glanced at his watch. Four-thirty. Jack decided that was close enough and stood from the chair, picking up his backpack and shrugging it on.

It was with trepidation that he headed to the rugby field. This wasn’t going to go well and he knew it, but he figured the best thing he could do was to get it over with as quickly and painlessly as possible. Surely when Hiccup saw how absolutely _hopeless_ Jack was with biology, he would drop the entire tutoring idea, right?

Decided, he felt a slight bit more confident when he finally reached the bleachers next to the field.

He wasn’t the only one there and that didn’t surprise him. The rugby team apparently had quite the fan following amongst the other students, so the cheering girls and hollering boys weren’t entirely unexpected. Still, the crowd made him slightly uncomfortable, and Jack shifted a bit before moving over to stand by the side, out of the way of the rest of the onlookers.

Leaning against the fence, he dug in his pockets, searching for the comfort of his ipod. He was just pulling it out and tucking the earbuds into place when his eyes lifted and lit on a familiar figure, breaking away from the rest of the team and moving over toward him. Jack hesitated, panicking momentarily, but Hiccup reached him before he could actually flee.

“Gotta say, Frosty, I didn’t think you’d show.”

Jack frowned. “You didn’t exactly give me a choice.”

“Heh. True.” Hiccup snorted a laugh. “I’ll grab my stuff and we can take off.”

The brunet jogged off toward the benches to gather his belonging and Jack looked after him, absentmindedly pulling his headphones off and wrapping them around his ipod, then tucking the device back into his pocket. Blue eyes drifted downward to rest on the ground at his feet and he pushed his glasses up absently, only looking up again when Hiccup’s footsteps approached and the other boy smacked a hand into his shoulder.

“Alright, let’s go.”

Hitching his backpack up, Jack nodded mutely and fell into step beside the other boy, who lead him away from the field toward the street. Hiccup had his bag slung over his shoulder, and Jack assumed that was where his normal clothes were, as he was still wearing his rugby uniform. He’d also apparently taken some of his piercings out for practice, though it wasn’t long before he was righting that, earrings and studs dug out of his duffle one at a time and quickly pinned back into their proper places.

He was just replacing his tongue bar when he caught Jack staring. “What?”

“You, uh… you take them out for practice?”

A shrug. “Coach makes me. Says it’s not safe to leave ‘em in. Doesn’t mean I like it.” With the stud back in, he worked his tongue against the roof of his mouth, then licked his lips and glanced sideways. “You got any?”

“Any what?”

“Piercings, dumbass.”

“Oh. Um, no. No.” Jack shook his head.

“Too bad,” Hiccup commented with a tilt of his head, a knowing little glint in his eyes, “you’d look good with them.”

“Wait—I—wh-what?” Surprised, Jack looked back at him again, then flushed slightly and turned his attention back to the sidewalk ahead of him. “Uh, yeah, no. I don’t think so.”

“Aw, c’mon.” That annoying, now-familiar smirk and Hiccup reached to fluff at a bit of Jack’s hair. “You already dye, right? What’s an earring or two?”

Swatting his hand away, Jack hefted his bag again and then pushed at his glasses before brushing his hair back into place. It was pretty obvious that he dyed his hair, of course, considering it was white as snow. He’d started doing that during his second year of high school. But that didn’t mean he wanted to go out and have _holes_ punched in himself, no matter how hot that kind of thing might have looked on certain other people.

They were both quiet for a while, just walking, and it didn’t take long for them to reach their destination. Jack wasn’t really paying attention, his thoughts having drifted, so when Hiccup suddenly grabbed hold of his wrist, he jerked slightly, surprised. Hiccup just pulled him to a stop and gestured to the house they were standing in front of.

“Here.”

Without releasing Jack’s wrist, he proceeded to tug the other boy along into the building—Jack muttered a half-hearted protest at the idea of being dragged around, but didn’t bother to try pulling his arm away. Instead he followed obediently enough, only uttering another complaint when he was half-shoved up the stairs and into what could only be Hiccup’s bedroom.

It was a big room—bigger than the one Jack had at his house, anyway. Clearly not the home of a neat freak, the place was a cluttered mess of organized disorganization. Every surface besides the floor was littered with odds-and-ends of collections and gadgets, DVDs and CDs and tools. A television perched on a stand in the corner, and a desktop computer sat on a desk along one side of the room, the bookshelves next to it crammed with old floppy discs. The bed under the window was unmade, the sheets mussed and clearly slept in. In the middle of the place was a long, low table, also cluttered and obviously a main workspace.

Hiccup left Jack in the doorway and bustled farther inside, dropping his bag out of the way and then emptying everything off of the work table. Jack let his eyes drift around the room curiously—and then the next thing he knew Hiccup was stripping out of his shirt and digging through an old dresser with absolutely no sense of awareness to the fact that he was half naked.

That was when Jack noticed the dark tattoo that wound around the other boy’s upper left arm and across the back of his shoulders. He swallowed thickly, fiddled with one of the bracelets around his wrist and managed to articulate only, “uh.”

Green eyes lifted from the dresser drawer just as Hiccup was pulling a shirt out and he looked over toward his guest. A slow grin spread across his face and he chuckled. “Cute.” Pulling the shirt—a black sleeveless tee—over his head, he turned to face Jack and tilted his head. “You’re blushing, you dork.”

“I am not!” That was a lie. He totally was. Jack looked away quickly. “Look, this whole thing is stupid. I told you, I suck at biology. You should find someone else to tutor you, okay? I’m gonna go.”

He turned to make a quick exit—but was stopped when fingers curled around his arm and pulled him back again.

“H-hey—!”

The next thing he knew, Hiccup had yanked his backpack away and pushed him up against the wall, pressing close and pinning him there with an arm on either side of him, palms flat against the faded paper. Jack froze in place, his glasses sliding down his nose. Hiccup smirked and reached to push them back into place, then simply returned his arm to its’ previous position.

“Do you really, _honestly_ think,” He asked, voice a low murmur and eyes locked firmly with Jack’s, just daring the other boy to break the gaze, “that I wanted you here to _study?_ ” Then a soft chuckle. He let his tongue dart out to wet his lips and Jack’s eyes flickered down at that, then back up. “You are fucking _adorable._ ”

Him? Adorable? He was too tall, too skinny, all braces and glasses and clumsiness. Jack’s face burned and he couldn’t help protesting. “I’m not—!”

“ _Yes_ ,” Hiccup interrupted, hot breath fanning over Jack’s face. He tilted his mouth closer until his lips brushed lightly against his captive’s, just barely a feather touch. “ _You are_.”

And that was when Jack broke. Stuttering a moan, he lifted his hands, braced against Hiccup’s chest, and shoved him away. “S-stop!” He was breathing hard, erratically, and one hand moved up to his mouth.

The brunet’s expression actually shifted into one of surprise as he fell back, like he couldn’t believe he had just been pushed away. Jack leaned against the wall for another split second before snatching his bag from the ground and making a break for the door.

“I have to go!”

In his shock, Hiccup didn’t even try to follow him.


	4. Chapter 4

The next day Jack tried to fake sick so he wouldn’t have to go to school. His father didn’t buy it, of course, mostly because Jack hadn’t been sick a day in his life. Indeed, North just gave him a flat, disbelieving look and then picked him up bodily and dumped him out of his bed onto the floor. Jack landed in a heap of blankets and cursing, the wind knocked out of him while North just chortled. Damn him for always being so _jolly_.

His first plan dashed, he moved on to the second, less appealing one: he got ready and left the house (with just a _little_ scowl at his father), heading to school where he planned to scuttle around in the shadows and generally avoid even looking in Hiccup Haddock’s general direction. He figured he could do it if he was determined enough. He’d always been good at fading into the crowds, after all.

 _This_ plan seemed promising for roughly twenty minutes, until he reached the grounds of Berk High and spotted Hiccup waiting for him on the front steps. Jack panicked and fled, dashing around the building to use the back entrance: it would make getting to his first class on time dicey, but at least he wouldn’t have to actually face the other boy yet.

No, that would come with second period English class, which he was absolutely dreading. At least they didn’t sit near to each other in any of the classes they shared. Hiccup always sat near the back of the room and Jack generally sat closer to the front. He wouldn’t even have to look at him at all, right?

English class came and Hiccup was waiting for him yet again, leaning against the lockers outside of the room. Ten feet down the hall, Jack half-stumbled over his own feet, then froze in place. Green eyes watched his every movement intently when he finally ducked his head and scurried past the brunet into the classroom and took his seat. The tell-tale sound of army boots against the floor followed behind him, but Hiccup didn’t say anything, just sat at his own desk and stared at him for the rest of the period.

After English Jack managed to miraculously escape again, and the next couple classes were safe, which left him with what to do at lunch time—he avoided the cafeteria and hid out in the library instead—and then the rest of the day to deal with. In general, it was a very difficult, long seven hours.

When the final bell rang and he was let out of his last class Jack all but bolted. Hurrying to his locker, he crammed in what he didn’t need, extracted what he did, jammed everything into his backpack as fast as humanly possible and was just turning to run off again—

A hand clamped on his upper arm and blue eyes widened hugely, already knowing exactly what he would see when he was jerked around. Hiccup was glaring at him, annoyance obvious in his expression and Jack swallowed, his grip on his bag tightening. “L-let me go.” He managed, rather weakly.

Hiccup’s lips just twisted, and the next thing he knew he was being bodily dragged down the hall. The other students moved out of the way to let them pass, obviously unnerved by Hiccup’s scowl, and whispers erupted wherever they passed. Jack tried unsuccessfully to free himself from the grip on his arm, but the fingers there just dug in more determinedly.

“I said let me go!”

Abruptly the dragging stopped—there was the creak of a door opening—and half a breath later he was being shoved into a closet. Jack yelped in surprise, back connecting with a set of rickety shelves, trapped there, and wide eyes watched Hiccup follow him into the small space and slam the door behind them.

He was at Jack in an instant, one hand slamming hard into the shelves, making them clatter. Pain jolted dully up his arm but he ignored it for the time being. “ _Stop. Avoiding me_.”

“I—I’m not—”

“Bullshit.”

Hiccup sounded furious, but there was something in his eyes that made it clear he was actually just frustrated—and maybe a little hurt. Jack shook his head, his own eyes darting, trying to avoid eye contact again.

“F-fine. I’m avoiding you.”

“Why?”

Jack sputtered. “Y-you’re _kidding_ right?!”

A deep frown. “All I did was kiss you. Not even really that.” Hiccup studied him closely, tongue flicking out to lick at his lip piercing absently. “You not into guys?” He asked finally, a hint of confusion in his tone. “Because I have to tell you, Jack, you were giving me the wrong signals if that’s what’s up.”

“Wait—what are you _talking about?_ ”

Green eyes rolled skyward. Hiccup made an irritated noise. “All the staring and stammering and blushing, idiot. God, it’s like you’ve never _flirted_ before!” But then a long pause and he levelled a flat look on the other boy. “Christ. You’ve never flirted before, have you?”

Jack’s face went from white to the color of a cherry in about five seconds flat. “W-well _excuse me_ if I’ve never—”

There was another short silence—and then Hiccup’s lips began to twitch upward. A moment later he began to chuckle—and then laugh. His head fell forward against Jack’s shoulder, auburn hair mussing against the other boy’s shirt.

“Hey—!”

“Oh, man, you’re a total fucking _virgin_ , aren’t you? Like, with _everything_.” Hiccup’s shoulders shook as he continued to laugh, leaving Jack pinned there awkwardly, face still blazing red. When the pale boy finally lifted a hand to shove at him, Hiccup shook his head and moved back to give him some space. “Okay, okay, I get it now. Shit, man, I thought I was way off for a second there!”

“ _So_ good to know your gaydar is working right.” Jack grumped embarrassedly, looking away and adjusting his glasses. They had gotten jostled with all the dragging and pulling and shoving. He still wasn’t sure how he felt about all this, aside from the vague thought that he should probably be decidedly humiliated. “Can I go now?”

Hiccup shook his head, lips tilting in that increasingly-familiar smirk. “Alright, geek boy.” But he reached up to grab Jack’s chin anyway, tugging his face around—and then another little lick of his lips and he leaned in, kissing him firmly for a moment. When he drew away he snickered at the flustered look on Jack’s face. “Tomorrow after the game, meet me at the field again.”

"No."

"Yes."

“M-maybe.”

“Definitely.”

Not sure what else to do, Jack eased out from between Hiccup and the shelves, squeaking out the door a second later. The hallway was thankfully empty, everyone else having already escaped for the day—and Jack only hesitated for a moment before he broke into a sprint, fleeing himself.

He needed to get home, lock himself in his room, bury his head under his pillow, and do some serious thinking.


	5. Chapter 5

Sleep and over-thinking didn’t help him figure anything out. Indeed, when he woke the next day Jack was just as confused as ever. At least this time he didn’t try to pretend he was sick. He didn’t want to avoid Hiccup _that_ much anymore, even if he was still a little weirded out over the whole situation. Not that he necessarily wanted to be buddy-buddy with him, either.

Jack sighed into his locker, the sound echoing softly. He just didn’t get it—didn’t see why Hiccup was so interested in him. Turning his attention to the locker’s small mirror, he studied himself for a moment: pale skin, white hair, blue eyes. Huge, thick framed glasses and braces on his teeth, both of which he goddamn _hated_. (Maybe he would try to convince his dad to let him get contacts, again. The braces he was unfortunately stuck with for at least another year-and-a-half.)

He sighed again, moving to pull his books out of his locker and then closed the door firmly, giving the lock a spin just for good measure.

At least he could say that Hiccup hadn’t bothered him at all today. In fact he hadn’t even approached Jack, they had both just gone about their business, gone to classes, gone to lunch without so much as a word passed between them. It was kind of a relief… and kind of perplexing. It just confused him even more, if that was possible.

Jack was still pondering over everything when school ended. He went to the library to work on his homework—something he did on a relatively regular basis, rather than doing it at home under North’s overbearing gaze—and then, somewhere between five and six o’clock he suddenly found himself standing by the crowded bleachers at the rugby game without so much as an inkling of how he’d actually _gotten_ there. He had _intended_ to just do his homework and then go home. Apparently his legs had had other ideas.

Unsure what to do, Jack just stood there for a minute. The game was still going on, the audience cheering and whooping, and Jack shifted from foot to foot, then hesitantly headed over to the fence line, where he had waited for Hiccup to finish his practice the other day. It was off to the side, out of the way of most of the uproarious fans. He was minutely more comfortable there.

Leaning back against the fence, he let his eyes wander the action on the field. Jack wasn’t really into sports—and he knew next to nothing about rugby, so he had no clear idea of what was going on. He also had no clear idea if he was going to stay or not, or why he was even there to begin with.

Hiccup had told him to come, sure, but he hadn’t promised he would. Maybe it was because Hiccup was paying attention to him. No one had ever done that before. It was new and different, something out of the ordinary for him. Interesting.

Jack’s eyes moved down to the ground at his feet and he kicked at the grass a little. The fence line was alright, but the noise was still overwhelming and anxiety was quickly rising in his chest. Still, he toughed it out for another few minutes before shaking his head and pushing off the chain links. Whether Hiccup wanted him to be there or not, he had to at least find somewhere quieter and get some air. Maybe he would come back once he was feeling a bit better—maybe not.

Still distracted by everything, he began to head around the corner of the fence, generally aiming for the parking lot. But he wasn’t really watching where he was going—and the next thing he knew he was running into someone. Again.

Jack bounced back with a surprised noise, already registering the feeling of something splashing across his shirt as he stumbled back, tripped and tumbled to the ground. He landed on his backpack and winced when the books inside dug into his side. He had to shove his glasses back up his nose. 

“ _Ow!_ Not again! Man, I’m really sorr—!”

Before he could even finish his apology a hand was fisting in the front of his shirt and jerking him back to his feet. Jack gave a startled yelp, hands flying up to grip at the one holding onto him.

“You little shit—”

Oh. Oh no.

Jack knew how this was going to go. He’d been on the bad end of bullying before, though admittedly not as often as some people might have guessed. But he _had_ played this out a few times—so when the hand holding him shook him sharply and then shoved him back to the ground, he simply tried his best not to land awkwardly. That much was relatively easy.

The harder part came with the first kick. It caught him in the side, just below his ribs, and made him gasp sharply and curl in on himself. His glasses, losing the good fight, finally dropped away from his face, landing next to him in the grass. Jack grit his teeth hard and cried out sharply when another blow landed against his shoulder blade, making pain flare down his back.

A split second pause and he braced himself for the next kick.

But instead of the expected strike, there was a far-off sounding shout and an abrupt blur of movement. The sound of a scuffle above him made him jerk his head up and squint past the fog of his terrible eyesight. Still gasping for air, he fumbled around with one hand until his fingers found his glasses and he quickly shoved them back on—just in time to roll out of the way when a shouting, swearing, thrashing tangle of boys crashed into the ground beside him.

Scrambling back, Jack gaped as he watched Hiccup grapple with the other teen, spitting and cursing the entire time. He threw punches, knees and elbows everywhere, fighting wildly with the obviously older boy—who probably had six inches height and a good twenty pounds on him.

Oh shit, oh shit. This was bad.

Before it could get any more out of hand, though, the rugby coach stalked over. Reaching into the rolling tangle of teenagers, he grabbed a hold of Hiccup’s collar and yanked him up, shoving him away quickly. When Hiccup snarled something unintelligible and made as if to go at the other kid again, the man glared at him harshly and jerked a hand toward the team benches across the field.

Still heaving, Hiccup snapped a short “fuck!”, glanced toward Jack quickly, hesitated, and then followed his coach’s silent orders. Once at the benches he dropped down heavily, shooting another scathing glare back over his shoulder. The coach, meanwhile, hauled the other boy to his feet and gave him a hard push toward the parking lot.

There was a lot of muttered cursing, but eventually he headed off as well. The coach then turned his attention back to Hiccup, crossing the field in long strides, an angry glower on his face. This left Jack where he was, sitting in the grass next to his backpack with brand-new bruises already aching all across his body.

_What… just happened?_

Huffing out a pained breath, he finally pushed to his feet carefully, then bent to pick up his backpack with a wince. That done, he looked off toward the rugby field, where the coach was yelling loudly at Hiccup, gesturing hugely with both arms: Hiccup wasn’t listening particularly well, apparently, as he looked to be arguing back, making pointed hand gestures of his own.

Around them, the other players were milling, clearly trying to listen without looking like that were doing so. Apparently the game still wasn’t finished, as the opposing team was languishing on their own benches, all of them looking extremely nonplussed. So wait… that meant Hiccup had jumped ship right in the middle of the game? To beat the shit out of someone who was doing the same to Jack?

This was _not_ helping to make him any less confused.

Jack shifted a little, eyes skittering downward and then back up again—just in time to watch Hiccup stand up, grab his duffle bag, and angrily stalk away from the benches, the team, the coach, the _game_ —everything. He hefted his bag over his shoulder and headed straight toward Jack.

Hesitating, Jack looked around nervously. But he didn’t run off, because Hiccup had just come to his defence, right? It didn’t seem right to just _bail_ like that. When Hiccup came to an abrupt halt in front of him, though, Jack had to force down another automatic wince.

“Uh…” His voice came out a croak.

Hiccup looked him over once, then huffed a sigh. “Coach suspended me.” He informed him, tone angry but not directed at Jack himself. “I’m out the next three games. Still get to go to practice, though, so I guess it could be worse.”

“Could be _worse?_ ” Jack repeated incredulously.

“No broken bones.” Hiccup shrugged, green eyes surveying him again. “You okay?”

“Me? Ah, yeah. Just bruises, I think.”

“Good. C’mon, let’s go.”

This time the walk to Hiccup’s house was completely silent. Jack didn’t even argue where they were going, just followed along, watching Hiccup quietly the entire time. The other boy was still in his rugby uniform, ripped in places now, a dark bruise already surfacing on the right side of his jaw. His nose was bloody, too, though it at least didn’t appear to be actively bleeding anymore. Jack could only guess what other injuries he had suffered.

Minor guilt made him continue along after Hiccup when they reached his home, going inside and up to the freckled teen’s room without complaint. Once there, he dropped his backpack by the door chewed on his lip a little, eyes following the brunet, who dug under his bed for a moment before producing a first-aid kit. He then sat himself down at the table in the middle of the room and opened it up, pawing through it for antiseptic and bandages. That was when Jack noticed the bloody knuckles on Hiccup’s right hand.

Swallowing a bit, Jack tentatively moved over toward Hiccup, then carefully lowered himself down to sit on the floor beside him. Silently, he picked up the antiseptic bottle and the cleaning cotton, soaking some of it in the liquid and then pulling Hiccup’s injured hand over to himself to dab at the scraped-up knuckles.

“So… thanks.”

“No problem.”

He said it like it was no big deal. Jack’s lips compressed into a thin line. “You didn’t need to do that.”

Hiccup tilted his head a little, looking sideways at Jack for a second. Then he just reached with his free hand, slid his fingers into white hair, and tugged until blue eyes lifted to meet his. “Sure I did.”

Jack’s brows drew together and he shook his head. “I don’t get you.”

A faint, barely-there smile and Hiccup pulled him forward, leaning to kiss him for the second time, just lightly. Then he took his hands back and returned to bandaging himself up.

“Go on home, Jack. You should get some rest.”


	6. Chapter 6

Jack spent the first half of that weekend in his room doing three things: sleeping in an attempt to work through the worst of his bruises, thinking way too much about what had happened at the game, and very secretly worrying over Hiccup. At least they were all related.

North expressed worry by dinner time on Saturday when he still hadn’t left his room for more than the occasional bathroom break, but Jack waved him off with some excuse about studying too hard the night before and North seemed to accept that easily enough. He did make a point of getting out of bed then, though, all aching muscles and whirling thoughts.

He went down for dinner with his father, barely ate anything, and then returned to his room quickly afterward, where he settled on his bed with the intent of watching television, settling on a documentary channel he normally enjoyed. Then he promptly fell asleep again.

When he woke a few hours later it was to the flickering of the TV and a strange, unfamiliar tapping noise at his window.

Confused and sleep-fogged, Jack wrinkled his nose and blinked his eyes a few times. Once he was awake enough to fumble his glasses back into place, he sat up slowly, a frown tugging at his lips. Blue eyes drifted to the window and he stood, moving across the room cautiously.

What he saw made him stop in his tracks. Jack had to take a moment to make sure he wasn’t still dreaming—and then hurried over to yank the window open. “What are you _doing here?!_ ” He hissed.

Perched on the windowsill, legs dangling off and his back to the room, Hiccup Haddock looked over his shoulder with a smirk. The hand that had been tapping on the glass lowered to brace against the window frame. “Yo.” He replied nonchalantly, then made a gesture that generally encompassed the outdoors. “C’mon out with me for a while.”

“ _What?_ ” More hissed words. Jack glanced toward the door nervously, worried that North might hear them talking. “No way! My Dad’d _kill_ me!”

Hiccup considered that for a moment before shrugging and swinging his legs over the sill, hopping into the room. “Then I’m coming in.”

Jack’s eyes cast skyward and he made a plaintive motion with his hands, silently begging for help from above. But none was apparently forthcoming as Hiccup breezed past him, gaze moving around the bedroom with feigned disinterest. Jack finally looked after him, one hand lifting to rub at his temple.

“ _H-Hiccup_ —”

Hiccup latched onto that and before he could continue the brunet was back across the room, leaning in close to him. “Heh. You finally said my name. Only took a month and a half.”

“I—” Jack balked, taking a step back. “Y-yeah, so?”

“Just good to know you know it, is all.” A chuckle and he returned to inspecting Jack’s belongings, pausing at the bookshelf. Green eyes narrowed in concentration as he read over the titles. “Sci-fi geek, huh? Probably never read _How To Train Your Dragon_ , then. You should try it, it’s pretty good.”

A surprised blink at that. “You read?”

Hiccup snorted and rolled his eyes, shooting a look back over his shoulder. “Look, just ‘cause I’m a punk doesn’t make me illiterate.”

“Well, no, I mean, obviously. I was just, uh, surprised.” Jack shifted a bit before finally deciding to close the window again. Hiccup clearly wasn’t planning on leaving any time soon. Once the glass was closed and the latch was back in place he turned back to the other boy. “Why…” He started, and trailed off, swallowing dryly and then trying again, “why are you here?”

Hiccup’s reply was sharp. “You don’t want me here?”

Wincing, Jack sighed, frustrated, and ran a hand through his hair. “I’m not—I mean, I didn’t say—it’s just…” Shaking his head, he finally finished with, “I don’t even _know_ you, man!”

“Sure you do.” The dark-haired boy had been reading the back of a weathered novel, but now he placed it back on the shelf and turned his attention back to Jack. Green eyes studied him for a long moment. “I’m Hiccup Haddock. I’m Berk High’s resident rugby brawler and I’m a punk.” A quirk of his lips and he moved closer again, leaning in to a more intimate distance. “And you’re Jack Frost. You’re the nerdy new kid and you’re _totally fucking adorable_.”

Jack flushed and looked away, quickly stepping to the side and retreating to sit on the edge of his bed. He was suddenly very aware that he was dressed in nothing but a white t-shirt and his favorite red and blue boxers. Hiccup watched him go, an amused tilt to his mouth.

“Why do you keep doing this to me?”

“Because I like you, you dumb shit.”

“Okay, but _why?_ ”

A shrug and Hiccup dropped down onto the bed beside him, leaning back against his arms a little. “You’re cute, you’re interesting, you’re a challenge. I dunno, why does anyone like anyone?”

Jack regarded him quietly for a moment before looking down at his hands. “It’s just that… no one ever even notices me, especially people like you.”

“People like me?”

“Interesting people.” Jack supplied, and carded his fingers together in an anxious manner. “I’m a nobody. I’m practically invisible. No one sees me.”

Hiccup was silent for a while, just thinking that over while he considered his response. Eventually he reached to ruffle Jack’s hair, teasing, then tightened his hand in the soft white strands and pulled the other boy around to face him. His voice was soft and serious when he spoke next, and he made sure to hold Jack’s gaze firmly, leaning in until he could rest their foreheads together lightly: “ _I_ see you.”

Blue eyes widened hugely and pale cheeks darkened again. If the situation were any different the expression might have been comical. Now, though, it just made the corner of Hiccup’s lips lift in a half-smile. Jack’s eyes flitted down at that, then back up—and Hiccup hesitated for just a second before closing the distance between them and kissing him gently.

This time Jack didn’t move back or shove him away—he was just very still for a long, drawn-out moment. Hiccup was just about to break the kiss off when Jack’s eyelashes began to flutter, his eyes closing slowly. The lips against his moved a little, hesitant and unsure.

Hiccup had to chuckle, angling his head more and sliding his fingers through Jack’s hair, around to hold at the back of his head. Another soft kiss and Hiccup carefully lapped his tongue at the other boy’s lips—and when they tentatively parted at his gentle urging he smiled and pressed forward, deepening things just a little bit.

A quiet whine worked its’ way up from Jack’s throat a moment later. Sitting there with his hands clasped in his lap was starting to feel kind of awkward, so he finally lifted one up to shyly rest against Hiccup’s bare upper arm, pale fingers against freckled skin. Hiccup made a soft noise at that and just kissed him again, the hand in Jack’s hair massaging gently.

The brunet pulled back a minute later, just an inch to lick his lips. Jack tasted like peppermint. He was just considering pressing into another kiss when the fingers at his arm tightened ever-so-slightly, just a faint current of nervousness, and then _Jack_ was closing the distance to kiss _him_.

Hiccup hummed his approval.

This kind of kissing was slow and warm, barely anything but soft brushes of lips and tongues. But it was good for them—good for _Jack_ , who was so very clearly inexperienced and unsure.

Still, Hiccup broke it off after only a short time, taking a breath and sighing it out through his nose. Jack’s eyes stayed closed for a long moment and the brunet watched the expressions flit across his features before he finally swallowed, licked his lips, and opened his eyes slowly.

“That was good for a first try, Frostbite.” Hiccup teased, a smile lifting his lips. “Most first kisses are a disaster.”

“Y-you kissed me twice before this, stupid.”

A tsk. “Those don’t count.”

“Why not?”

“Because I said so.” He grinned when Jack pursed his lips and looked to the side. Unable to resist, he leaned in one last time, this time to nip lightly at the other boy’s lower lip. The gasp he got in response was worth the trouble. “Heh.” Pulling away, he let go of Jack’s hair and stretched his arms above his head, residual strain from the fight the day before making his muscles twinge. “I’ve gotta get going.”

“Already?”

“This from the guy who didn’t want me to come in to begin with.”

He had a point. Jack just shrugged helplessly. “I guess I changed my mind.”

“Kinda figured that out when you stuck your tongue in my mouth.”

There was that smirk again. Jack flushed and stammered out a protest, but Hiccup just waved it off. He stood, headed to the window and pulled it open—and was about to climb out when a hand hooked into the back of his vest, stopping him. Eyebrows lifting, he looked back over his shoulder.

“Um,” Jack wasn’t looking at him. In fact, he was looking way off to the side, expression embarrassed. He shifted a bit, and then muttered awkwardly, “so, uh… I’ll see you Monday?”

Hiccup just chuckled, the corner of his mouth lifting again.

“Yeah. See you Monday.”


	7. Chapter 7

The next few weeks were a bit of a blur for Jack. He had classes, of course, and his father had helpfully suggested that if he joined a couple of school clubs he might actually make some friends. That had landed him in both the Berk High book club and a bi-weekly Dungeons and Dragons game with other kids as equally nerdy as he was.

North was also hinting that he might consider looking for a part-time job the following summer.

In and around that, he was spending most afternoons after class when it wasn’t raining huddled by the fence at the sports field, watching the rugby team run drills and plays. He always took a book or a notepad and pretended he was doing something else, though. (It didn’t fool Hiccup for one second.)

Spending snatches of time with Hiccup here and there was also now a regular thing. Sometimes they chatted a little before or after one of their shared classes, sometimes they met up after Hiccup was done with rugby to hang out for a while, sometimes they just smiled a bit as they passed each other in the hall—and once in a while they ended up in the same closet Hiccup had shoved him into the first time, where the brunet made a specific point of proving he could be just as patient and gentle as he was rash and bold.

Every few nights Hiccup made a visit to Jack’s room as well. He was beginning to get very good at climbing the latticework that lined the side of the house under Jack’s window.

Those were the quiet and surprisingly intimate times.

“Mmh…”

Lips trailed down his neck gently, warm and soft and with the smallest little cold spot where Hiccup’s lip stud tickled against his skin. Jack bit his lip and let his head fall back slightly when the other boy’s teeth nipped against his pulse, just this side of too light. Definitely not hard enough to leave a mark, no matter how much Hiccup may have wanted to.

“ _A-ah_ …”

“Heh,” He smirked into Jack’s throat. “You make the best little noises.”

Jack frowned at that—then sucked in a breath when Hiccup’s hands slid lightly down his sides, stopping to rest above his hips. He never allowed himself to dip below there, which both pleased and frustrated Jack to no end. “You’re crazy.” But he still tugged the other boy down for another kiss, deep and rhythmic and a little bit hungry.

A moment later Hiccup pulled back, leaning to nip on his ear, then sucked gently, drawing what was _almost_ but not _quite_ a moan from Jack’s lips. _So close_. Cursing internally, he privately vowed to do better next time.

Jack gave a slightly shuddering sigh and licked his lips. Blue eyes opened to focus on Hiccup again. “Can I ask you something?”

Hiccup shrugged with one shoulder. He was propped over Jack on his other arm. His free hand moved up to tug at Jack’s shirt absently, fingers trailing along his chest, touching carefully. “Sure.”

Jack was very hard-pressed to ignore the touches that he was _sure_ were teasing in nature, but he resolved to do so. “Your leg. How’d it happen?”

A surprised blink and Hiccup cleared his throat. For the first time since they’d met, Jack actually saw an uncomfortable look flit across the punk’s features. For a minute he almost regretted asking—but before he could dismiss the question Hiccup was already answering.

“I was three and there was a _goddamn_ _huge fucking dog_. It was the size of a bear.” He shrugged again, trying to seem nonchalant about it. Jack just winced sympathetically. “Next thing I know I’m in the hospital and my leg’s gone. Honestly, I don’t even remember it much anymore.” Then a pause and he added a bit more quietly, “I do remember my Mom crying a lot.”

“Does she still cry about it?”

“Nah. She died when I was ten.”

Jack gave a physical flinch at that one. “Shit, I’m sorry—”

But Hiccup just shook his head and smiled, a little lopsided. “You didn’t know.”

Jack smiled a bit in return. Then, because it seemed right, he lifted his hand and pulled the other boy down for another kiss. It started off apologetic, gentle and reassuring—and then he slid his fingers back into Hiccup’s hair, toying with the little braid behind his right ear, and tilted his head, parting his lips to deepen it.

Another few moments and they were both breathless again, breaking away to gasp for air and Hiccup was ducking his head to lick and nip lightly along Jack’s neck. Jack bit down on his own lip and stifled a soft sound in his throat at that, even as Hiccup’s hands travelled his sides, down to his hips, rubbing there heatedly before inching upward, fingers ducking under the edge of his shirt, hot against even hotter skin. Jack _shuddered_ at that, arched into the touch—

And Hiccup pulled back abruptly, spitting out a soft curse. “Fuck! Dammit, I have to go.”

Panting lightly, Jack began to protest: “Hiccup, w-wait—”

But Hiccup shook his head. He swallowed hard, lips twitching into a faint smile again, and pushed away. Once he was standing he paused, though, and leaned down to press a last placating kiss to Jack’s lips. “You don’t want me to stay, Jack.”

Then he was gone and Jack let his head thump back against the bed. A moment later he flailed slightly, kicking his legs, and then rolled over onto his stomach and buried his face in his pillow to muffle a frustrated scream.

And when his Dad knocked on his door to ask him what was wrong, he lied and said he’d stubbed his toe.


	8. Chapter 8

The next morning started off typical enough: breakfast with North, walking to school, going to his locker to get what he needed for his first class. The normalcy ended about then, though, because that was the point that Hiccup stalked down the hall, grabbed hold of his necktie on the way past, and dragged him along in the complete opposite direction he actually needed to go.

“Uh—hey—wha—”

“ _Shut up_.”

As usual when Hiccup was in a mood, students parted like the Red Sea in front of him. Jack caught more than one sympathetic look in his direction on the way past. He barely managed to keep up as Hiccup hurried him along, half-tripping over his own feet when they turned a corner—and the next thing he knew he was being shoved into a familiar closet.

“H-Hiccup, what—?!”

Hiccup followed him in and slammed the door shut, then spun around quickly. Both his hands came up and he made an animated gesture. “Okay, look, we need to talk.”

“Al… alright…?” Jack answered tentatively, giving the other teen an unsure look.

“Because _seriously_ , Jack,” One of Hiccup’s hands flew up to his temple and he took a bit of a breath. “You just—you can’t fucking do that to me anymore, alright?” And when Jack just looked confused, he attempted to clarify: “you can’t just—right, like last night! You can’t kiss me like that and fucking _move_ like that and then, shit, you tried to get me to _stay?_ You— _Jesus_ , Jack, you just _can’t do that!_ I’m absolutely— _are you listening?_ I’m fucking serious here! Because I’m trying to take it slow and it’s taking all my goddamn willpower not to just—”

Hiccup was rambling. He had clearly been working himself up to this, probably all night by the sound of it. Possibly longer. Jack had never seen him so flustered. But despite the rant the words were filtering through and Jack felt his face heat abruptly when he realized what Hiccup was saying.

“—and then you _look at me like that_ and all I can think about is _fucking you senseless_ and that’s _not okay!_ Because— _shit_ —I wanna do the right thing, here, but God-fucking- _dammit_ , Jack!” The torrent of words continued and the longer Hiccup went on the redder Jack’s face became. Hiccup was still gesturing, eyes darting around but notably not settling anywhere near Jack himself. “And I know, _I know_ , you don’t even know you’re doing it, but that makes it _even more fucking frustrating!_ And then I have to fucking _go home and take care of it my goddamn self_ and that is _not_ the same and it’s _not—fucking—fair, okay?!_ ”

Heaving now, Hiccup shook his head and finally let his arms drop back to his sides. He took a handful of deep breaths, huffing them out as he attempted to calm himself down again.

“Um,” Jack offered weakly, not looking at him, “you could always… you know… go find someone else? If it’s that… that bad?”

“… _what_.” The word was whispered harshly and Jack had a split second to understand that he’d said the wrong thing before Hiccup’s expression dropped into a scowl. Then he stepped forward and shoved Jack back into the wall—following after him quickly, pinning him there with his own body. He glared directly into Jack’s eyes. “Are you fucking _serious?_ You don’t _get it_ , do you? _I don’t want someone else, you stupid little shit!_ ”

Then, before Jack fumble up a reply, Hiccup pushed even closer, tight against the other boy and kissed him hard. One hand grabbed tightly at a slim hip and the other came up to fist in icy hair. When he finally let go a few moments and several searing kisses later, he drew away just far enough to pant against Jack’s lips. His glare faded slowly, then, until he finally let his forehead fall down onto the other’s shoulder.

“Shit. Look, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to shout, I just—it’s been really fucking hard for me lately.”

Still shocked, Jack swallowed thickly, blue eyes a little wide as he stared down at the back of Hiccup’s head. He licked his now-swollen lips self-consciously. “You, uh… I didn’t…”

“You didn’t even realize, _I know_.”

“I—I mean—s-sorry—”

Heaving another sigh, this one sounding less frustrated and more weary, Hiccup moved back to give Jack some room, leaning his frame back against the opposite wall of the closet, a couple feet away. There was a long silence then. Jack adjusted his glasses out of habit, then looked downward, his eyes drifting to the toes of his shoes and resting there.

Because he’d just learned a few things about Hiccup: first, that he had been holding back that torrent of words for what was probably quite some time. Second, that he apparently, at least sometimes, went home after they spent time together and thought about _him_ while he got himself off. And third and most importantly, that Hiccup was pretty damn well fixated on him.

What did that mean, though? They had never talked about what was going on between them. After the initial weirdness on Jack’s part they had just kind of fallen into a sort of unusual rhythm together. But beyond a few minutes here and there they didn’t actually spend much time together outside of Hiccup’s almost-nightly visits to Jack’s bedroom.  

He couldn’t even really call them fuck buddies because even when Hiccup was in his bed all they did was make out and talk.

“Hey, Hiccup…?”

“Yeah?”

“I… I mean, _us_. The two of us.” Jack’s voice was soft, his eyes still focused on his shoes. His hands fiddled with the edge of his vest before moving on to his tie nervously. “What—what are we? I mean really. Are we… are we friends, or…?”

Hiccup raised an eyebrow at him, but Jack was still looking downward and so obviously didn’t see. “What do _you_ think we are?”

“Th—that’s just it, I don’t know!” His tone became plaintive and blue eyes flitted back and forth, his hands _twisting_ at his tie now, wrinkling it beyond redemption. “I—I like you, and I like spending time with you, and I like—I like kissing you—but this is all really _strange_ for me! No one’s ever paid attention to me before, not the way you do!”

A pause then as Jack swallowed, his face flushing and his eyes closing tightly.

“And—and last night, yeah, I wanted you to stay. I really, _really_ wanted you to stay, because—because when you touch me, I feel… I feel…” Shaking his head, he took a breath, eyes still clenched closed. “B-but you’re right, it’s not—I’m not ready for that. And you’re being so—you’re trying so hard to make sure I’m safe, and I don’t—I just don’t—I don’t _know!_ ”

“…jeez, Frosty.” Hiccup gave a half-smile and shook his head, pushing away from the wall and moving over to stand by Jack again. He lifted a hand to sift through Jack’s hair gently. “You don’t have to get so worked up.”

“ _I_ don’t have to get so worked up? What about _you?_ ” He glared halfheartedly at the other teen through his bangs.

“Heh.” Hiccup had to give him that one. He grinned wryly, “good point.”

They both fell silent again then. One of Jack’s hands raised to hook in Hiccup’s shirt and he looked down again, not sure what to say anymore. The fingers in his hair held his attention, though—and then Hiccup shifted a little closer and half-tucked Jack against his chest.

Jack closed his eyes once more and leaned his head until his nose barely brushed at the crook of Hiccup’s neck.

Outside in the corridor, people began bustling about again as the first class period ended, hurrying to and from their lessons. Earlier, Jack had been worried about missing his first class—but now he decided he didn’t really care all that much about anything besides what was hanging in the air between Hiccup and himself, locked away in the storage closet in science hall.

When the crowds outside cleared again and everyone else was back in classrooms, Hiccup finally huffed a short breath and let his hand slide down to the back of Jack’s neck.

“Alright, so,” He began, and then paused long enough to chew at his lip stud with just the slightest bit of nervousness; “I think we’re sorta on the same page, here.”

Jack’s voice was hesitant, muffled. “We are?”

“Yeah.” Hiccup nodded. He shifted. This was a tad weird for him, too—he’d never really done this before. “So I guess the only thing to do is to try going out together.”

Surprised, Jack stepped back to look at him. “You mean like _dating?_ ”

Hiccup gave an awkward little shrug. “Or, yanno, like _one_ date to try things out?”

“Oh.” Blue eyes flitted around before settling on Hiccup once more. Jack licked his lips and offered a tentative smile. “Yeah… alright. Let’s try that.”

“Okay then.” Hiccup echoed Jack’s hesitant smile with one of his own. Then he reached and gave a rather fond nudge to the other boy’s glasses, pushing them up the bridge of his nose a bit.

“Hey, Hiccup?”

“What now, twerp?”

Ignoring the jab, Jack leaned in and kissed him, surprisingly shy about it all things considered. Hiccup let the hand at the back of Jack’s neck drift down until his arm could settle around the other teen’s slender waist, fingers hooked comfortably on his hip. He tilted his head then, kissing back gently for a moment before pulling away again.

“We already missed two classes.”

“Yeah.”

“Will your Dad be pissed when he finds out?”

“Yeah.”

“Sorry.”

“It’s okay. I don’t get into trouble much.”

“Heh. We’ll just have to work on that, then.”


	9. Chapter 9

Three days later, Saturday night, and he was actually going on a _date_.

Was he _actually going on a date?_

Oh shit, he was _actually_ —

Jack shook his head swiftly and smacked the palms of his hands into his own cheeks a couple of times to jar himself back to reality. This wasn’t a big deal, right? Not a big deal at all. Most people his age went on dates all the time. Then again, most people _his age_ weren’t _him_. This was his _first_ date. This was his first time going out with someone like that.

This _was_ kind of a big deal, wasn’t it?

“Ahhh!”

His stomach was already twisted up in knots and he hadn’t even left the house yet. It was pathetic. Particularly because he was going out with a person he had already kissed (a lot) and touched (a little) and generally sucked face with on a regular basis for over the last month. But this was different, right? This was more… _official?_ Maybe? Was that the word he was looking for? As if they were a real couple or something.

Wait. _Waitwaitwait._

Were they a _couple?_

Was Hiccup, like, his _boyfriend?_ The infamous Hiccup Haddock? The most feared boy in their whole high school, possibly the entirety of Berk? The one guy who was probably the most complete opposite of him in the freaking _world?_

And oh, crap, what would North say if he found out about all that?

He was having trouble breathing.

Jack shook himself, yanking his mind out of the careening tailspin it had gone into and shoving it back on track. Taking a couple of deep breaths to force down the jittery feeling in his stomach, he paced from one side of his room to the other and back again, the creaking of the house’s old floorboards under his feet muffled through the carpet.

The pacing stopped momentarily, just long enough for him to check his watch and smooth at his clothes nervously. He’d never been on a date before—not to mention he didn’t even know where they were _going_ yet—and had no idea what the etiquette was when it came to how to dress.

So in the end he’d just gone with what he knew: light beige khakis (a little too long in the leg, he had to roll them up at his ankles) and a white t-shirt with a knit sweater-vest and a tie to top it off. Also a few bracelets—one of the few things he and Hiccup seemed to agree on fashion-wise. Pretty much the same thing he wore to school on a regular basis—but at least, if nothing else, he would be comfortable in his clothes, even if the rest of the night ended up being awkward for one reason or another.

He was so busy picking at the edge of his vest that the sound of the doorbell ringing downstairs didn’t even register at first. The second ring caught his attention, though, and he flailed slightly, fumbled to grab his phone and house keys and then scrambled down the stairs before his Dad could get to the door.

“Is that your friend, Jack?”

“Y-yeah, I got it, Dad! I’ll be back later!”

And then, before North could even come out of the living room, Jack yanked the door open and squeaked outside, closing it behind himself again. Sighing in relief, he offered Hiccup a tentative smile—and the other boy surveyed him for a moment, eyes moving from Jack to the firmly shut front door and back again before flatly stating, “your Dad doesn’t know you’re gay, does he?”

“Uh…” Jack gave an awkward little laugh and a bit of a shrug, glancing to the side. “Not—not so much. Yet. I mean… I’ll tell him… eventually. I just haven’t… yet.”

“Well then,” Hiccup tilted his head a touch, reaching with one hand to grasp at Jack’s wrist and then pushing the other boy back into the door. Jack’s back connected with the wood with a soft, barely-audible thud. Hiccup leaned in to kiss him then, already smirking even when he hushed Jack’s quiet protests. “Better be quiet, right?”

“H-Hiccup, come on, not here—”

“C’mon, then.”

Chuckling, Hiccup tugged him away from the door again, still holding onto him by the wrist, and moved down the porch toward the driveway. Jack stopped in his tracks when his feet hit the walkway, though, and he balked a little, pulling Hiccup to a stop in the process.

The brunet looked back at him. “…what?” Blinking, he turned his attention to the motorcycle in the driveway before belatedly realizing that Jack was the _new kid_ and probably hadn’t been aware that he even drove one. And given how nervous the other teen could be at times, he probably should have expected the hesitation.

“Oh. Right. My bike.”

“Uh, I’ve never…”

“Come on, it’s not like I’m asking you to _drive_ the damn thing,” Hiccup snorted, shaking his head, and tugged on Jack’s arm again to get him moving. “Just wear the helmet,” He advised, and then grinned when they reached the motorcycle and he picked up the first helmet, pressing it into Jack’s hands. His grin slid into a smirk, then, and he added, “and hang on tight, yeah?”

Jack turned the helmet over in his hands, swallowing slightly, then simply nodded. When he still hesitated, Hiccup rolled his eyes, plucked his glasses off, folded them and placed them securely in a pocket—then took the helmet back and pushed it onto his head, making sure it was firmly in place. Green eyes looked through the dark-tinted visor and he offered a reassuring half-smile.

“You’ll be fine, Frostbite.”

Then, before he even really knew it, he was seated on the back of the sleek black vehicle, his arms around Hiccup’s waist and his chest pressed to his back, fingers gripping tight in his jacket as the bike zoomed off down the road. Jack squeezed his eyes closed, arms tightening around the other boy involuntarily every time they took a corner, his heart in his throat.

He was kind of glad when they finally pulled to a stop a half-hour later and parked—and he jerked slightly a moment later when one of Hiccup’s hands touched against his where they were clasped around his ribs.

“You’ve gotta let go if we’re gonna get off, you know.”

“Ah!” Jack released him so quickly he almost fell off the bike. Instead he barely managed to clamber down, and pulled the helmet off even as Hiccup was standing as well, removing his own helmet and stretching his neck a bit. He hung his own helmet off one of the handlebars and then took Jack’s from him to hook it on the other.

While Hiccup was securing his motorcycle, Jack took the chance to retrieve his glasses, put them on again and look around. The street and buildings around them were unfamiliar, but that didn’t necessarily mean anything, considering how short a time he had lived in Berk.

“Where are we?”

“South side.”

That meant pretty much nothing to Jack, but he nodded anyway, gaze still drifting around the area—at least until hands settled on his shoulders and turned him around until he was facing Hiccup again. Jack blinked blankly while Hiccup looked him up and down quickly.

“How attached to that vest are you?”

“I—what? I mean—it’s just a vest—I guess?”

“Good. Because that shit is not going to cut it.” Hands moving down to the edge of the garment in question, the brunet pulled it upward quickly, and Jack was so startled by the whole thing that he just let the other boy strip it off. The vest was then tossed over the handlebars of the motorcycle for lack of anywhere else to put it. That done, Hiccup turned his eyes back to Jack again. He seemed to be mulling something over. “The tie can stay. Can’t do much about the pants.”

“Hiccup, what—”

Hiccup just lifted a hand to ruffle Jack’s hair into an unruly mess of spikes—this time Jack didn’t even complain at him when he did it, just frowning in puzzlement instead—before finally giving a satisfied noise. “Much better. Man, I should’ve told you to wear something less geeky. My bad.”

“I don’t think I even _have_ anything less geeky.”

A snort. “There is that.”

“Uh, so,” Jack waved one hand lightly, “what are we doing here?”

Rather than answering his question, Hiccup grabbed hold of his hand and started walking, down the street about a block before he ducked sideways into a nondescript alleyway. Somewhere nearby, a muffled thrumming sounded from beyond thick brick walls. Jack just frowned in concentration as he tried to pinpoint where it was coming from.

When they reached their destination, though, the realization hit him and he stopped again, digging in his heels this time.

“No—no, no. No. Sorry, I just—I can’t—”

The door to the club was still closed, but the music (not-so-muffled anymore) was there, promising a throng of people inside and his stomach was already beginning to knot up again. Hiccup frowned, hand tightening around Jack’s, and tugged lightly, but Jack still refused to move.

“I—I don’t—crowds freak me out—”

“Hey, hey.” Hiccup’s voice made him shift and he licked his lips nervously. The other boy gave him a lopsided smile. “Just give it a try. It’s fun, I promise.” And then, when Jack still hesitated, eyes darting to the entrance and back to him, he added, “just focus on me. That’s what I wanted anyway, stupid.” Then he assured him, voice softening slightly, “and if you start to panic we’ll get the fuck out of here. Okay?”

Still unsure, Jack tightened his fingers in Hiccup’s hand, then swallowed with difficulty and finally nodded. “O-okay… I guess…”

A little relieved sigh and Hiccup tugged at him again, pulling him along toward the club. There was no line—it was kind of an underground thing—but the door was flanked my rather large men who were wearing sunglasses despite the late hour. Jack was surprised when there was no pause at all—they took one look at Hiccup and just waved the pair of them past.

“You… you come here a lot…?”

“Sometimes.”

Once they were inside, Jack tensed again, taking a deep breath, then gave a weak smile. “I, ah… I’ve never danced before.”

“There’s nothing to it as long as you don’t care how you look. Shit, even I can dance and one of my legs is plastic.”

Another tug at Jack’s hand and Hiccup pulled him across the club to a corner that wasn’t quite as crowded as the rest of the dance floor. The other boy followed behind him nervously, but hadn’t panicked and bolted yet, which was a step in the right direction.

Once they reached the secluded corner, Hiccup pulled Jack closer, moving his hands down to his hips. Jack took a shaky breath, his own hands lifting to rest against Hiccup’s chest lightly, brows drawing together in an almost worried expression. Hiccup shook his head and leaned to kiss against his forehead lightly.

“Close your eyes and just listen to the music. Pretend no one else is here.”

“There’s like two hundred people around us, Hiccup—”

“I said _pretend_ , you adorable fuckwit.”

“Right, right…”

Crystal eyes closed over hesitantly, but he didn’t move until Hiccup’s hands tugged at his hips and the other teen began to sway in time with the beat, starting slow and guiding Jack until the slender boy was actually moving on his own, still a little tentative but slowly relaxing minute-by-minute.

“Not so bad…” His voice came out a murmur, completely inaudible but that was fine.

Jack was vaguely surprised by how easy it was to let everything fall away once he couldn’t see the crowd and was focused on the music—almost like the comfort he got from his ipod at school. And it felt good, heat and rhythm down to his very bones, Hiccup’s hands heavy against his hips, the small of his back, drifting up to his shoulders.

Before he knew it he had lost himself to the beat and the dancing and his partner and his back was pressed against Hiccup’s chest with arms around him and hands brushing heatedly along his hips, up to his abdomen and back down again. One of his own hands was holding tight against Hiccup’s left wrist, the other arm lifted over his shoulder and thin fingers clenching and kneading in thick brown hair. Fast breath fanned against the back of his neck, hot and heady and intimate.

“Jack…?”

“Huh…?”

“Hey… can you focus for me…?”

A whisper against his ear brought him out of it a while later, and he blinked through the fog that had settled over his mind, only then realizing there was a lull in the music. He was breathing hard and took a deep, shaky breath, licking his lips and swallowing dry.

The mouth against his ear moved, making him shiver.

"Jack."

“Y… yeah…?”

“I think it’s time to go.”

“Go…?”

“Yeah. Go.” Hiccup repeated the words softly, then dipped his head to press a kiss against Jack’s shoulder. “You’re doing really fucking amazing, Frostbite, but if we don’t get out of here things are gonna start to get outta hand.”

Jack finally loosened the fingers in Hiccup’s hair and lowered his arm, even as the brunet was disentangling from him, pulling back with a quiet huff. Jack was still for a long moment before he turned around, face flushed and eyes too bright, hands shuffling to smooth at his shirt distractedly.

Hiccup stopped moving to look at him, tongue sliding out to wet his lips absently. He had to take a breath, and then swallowed, holding his hand out for Jack to take. Once Jack’s palm was safely in his, they quickly headed for the exit.

They didn’t make it.

Ten feet from the door Hiccup’s hand tightened and he gave a soft frustrated sound, then turned around and pulled Jack into a kiss, one hand up and holding at the back of his head tightly.

Jack didn’t even hesitate—he dove into the kiss, his own hands coming up to clench in the front of Hiccup’s shirt and then slide farther until his arms were wrapped securely around the other’s neck. That was the point when Hiccup’s hands flew down to Jack’s hips and he spun them both until he could push Jack back into the nearest wall.

It probably said something that none of the people around them even blinked an eye.

These kisses were different than usual, hot and deep and desperate and Hiccup moved closer until their bodies were pressed tightly together. And then Jack arched into him and _moaned_. Hiccup hissed in a breath against Jack’s lips, gasping, and shook his head swiftly.

“Fuck… _fuck_ , Jack…”

“S-sorry…” He sounded dazed.

“Shit, don’t _apologize_ , just—” Hiccup swallowed hard and forced his grip on the other boy’s hips to loosen. “Gotta do the right thing. Shit, _fuck_ , I’ve _gotta_.” This was muttered mostly to himself and he moved away again. It was pretty much the last thing he wanted to do—and it pulled a mostly involuntary whine from Jack as well. Bracing his hands against the wall on either side of his panting partner, he let his head hang down for a moment, then took another shaky breath, grabbed Jack’s hand again, and quickly ducked them out the door.

The air outside was cool and by the time they made it back to the motorbike their heads were mostly clear again and Jack was so bright red that he was actually happy when he could pull his vest back on and then jam the helmet over his head to hide how much he was blushing.

When Hiccup dropped him off there wasn’t very much talking. He just walked Jack up to the door, where they stood quietly for a few minutes. Jack’s gaze took in the other boy’s form—black jeans, sleeveless tee, bracelets and piercings and those same damn hiking boots he wore every single day, all topped by bright green eyes and soft brown hair—before drifting down and to the side.

“So, um,” He said finally with a touch of uncertainty, “this date…”

“Yeah,” Hiccup sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “Got cut a little short. Sorry.”

“No, it’s fine, I just… are we going to do this again?”

“The club thing?” His mouth lifted into a smirk and he licked his lips absently. “I dunno if that’s such a good idea, hot stuff. Not if it’s gonna be like _that_. I mean, _Christ_ , Jack, who the fuck _knew_ , right?”

“Y-yeah…” Jack flustered again, shuffling his feet, and he rubbed his hands against his shirt a bit. “I, uh… _yeah_.” Then he looked back over to Hiccup. “But I meant, ah… I didn’t mean the club. I just meant the… date.”

“Why would you even ask that?”

“W-well, you said we’d just _try_ it, so…”

“Jack,” Hiccup tilted his head and grinned. “ _Of course_ we’re gonna do that shit again.”

The hesitant look on Jack’s face quickly changed, a pleased smile tugging his lips upward. “Great. So… so, goodnight, I guess?”

Still grinning, the brunet’s hand lifted to ruffle at white hair again, and he leaned to drop a brief kiss.

“See you Monday.”


	10. Chapter 10

A week after their first official date, Hiccup came over to Jack’s house during daylight hours for the first time. Of course, North was out at the time, so whether it actually _counted_ or not was debatable.

Settled comfortably in Jack’s room with snacks and drinks (and the door closed in case his father _did_ happen to come home unexpectedly), they played video games for a while until Hiccup got frustrated with the first-person shooter system and next thing to live-action rage quit. Jack had been quite pleased to have actually won something over the other teen, as he figured it would likely never happen again.

Next they talked about books, a topic that Hiccup actually knew a surprising amount about, comparing genres and authors and tossing recommendations back and forth until they were both trying to remember so many that the titles and authors were beginning to get mixed up. Neither of them bothered to write a single one down in the end.

When that conversation wound down, they then decided to watch a movie and snuck downstairs to go through the DVD shelves before deciding on some old sci-fi flick that neither of them had seen before. Once they were back in Jack’s space, they turned the movie on and settled down together on the bed, since it was the only cushy piece of furniture in the room, littered with the half-dozen pillows that Jack always insisted on sleeping with.

A bag of chips was passed back and forth and jokes were cracked about the cheesy writing and bad acting for a while until they eventually lapsed into comfortable silence. Half an hour later Jack shuffled around quietly until he was leaning into Hiccup’s side, and the other teen just adjusted to accommodate him and slung an arm around his shoulders absently.

Another fifteen minutes or so and then Hiccup glanced down a little. The arm around Jack shifted, his hand lifting and fingers brushing along white hair, just stroking through the strands gently. “Jack.”

“Mm?”

“How come you don’t tell your Dad that you’re gay?”

There was brief pause. Jack’s eyes didn’t move from the television screen. “I dunno… I guess I’m just not ready to be out yet.”

“You don’t think he’d react badly or anything?”

“No. I don’t think so. I’m sure he’d be fine with it if I told him. He supports me with anything. Has ever since I was a kid.”

“What about your Mom?”

“I don’t have a Mom. Never did. Dad adopted me when I was like a year and a half old.”

“You’re adopted?”

A smile quirked Jack’s lips upward, but he still didn’t look up. “Yeah.”

“Huh. Does it bother you?”

“Of course not. I’ve known I was adopted all along and Dad loves me just like if I was really his. Or so all the bone-crushing hugs would indicate.”

“You’re lucky, then.”

“Yeah, pretty much.” Finally Jack’s eyes flittered upward, taking in the faint frown that was gracing Hiccup’s face. “I take it your Dad’s not as accommodating?”

“I’m a huge goddamn disappointment as far as he’s concerned.” Hiccup’s frown deepened and the fingers still trailing through Jack’s hair paused for a few seconds before picking up the gentle strokes again, the motion absentminded. “Which is pretty much why I haven’t come out yet, either. Just another thing for him to rant and rave at me about.”

“That… that really sucks.”

“Shit, no, don’t get me wrong,” Hiccup shook his head at the faintly worried tone to Jack’s voice. “I’m not saying he doesn’t care or love me, yanno? I actually think he might care _too much_ sometimes. But he’s no good at the whole _talking_ thing, and _you_ know how _I’m_ like with that, so… in the end he just kinda ignores me unless I’ve done something wrong again. Like I’m invisible. But I’m used to it.”

He shrugged with one shoulder, then turned his eyes back to the tv screen. A couple of minutes of silence passed between them and then Jack shifted around against his side, earning a soft sound from Hiccup, and pushed himself up to sit back on his legs. He considered, chewing on his lip, then decided and climbed into Hiccup’s lap, settling there with his knees resting on either side of the other boy’s hips.

Hiccup’s eyebrows lifted and Jack blushed faintly, but still smiled, and lifted his hands tentatively to rest against either side of Hiccup’s face. Embarrassed already he licked his lips and managed softly. “You’re not invisible to anyone.” And then a little swallow, followed by, “I see you, too.”

Blinking slowly, Hiccup stared at him. Then a soft, barely audible snort and a smile tugged at his lips. He angled his head into Jack’s right hand a little. “Christ, you’re a huge fucking sap, aren’t you? I didn’t sign up for that.”

“Oh, no? What do you think you’ve signed up for, then?”

“Heh. More of that club scene would work for me.” A quiet teasing tone, but he still closed his eyes and pressed a gentle kiss against Jack’s palm. “With you up against me, both of us moving together… hot and breathless and out in _public_ like that, everyone watching us…”

Jack shivered at the memory, blush darkening—then forced a frown, sitting back. “Ruining the moment, here.”

Hiccup threw his head back and _laughed_ at that, grinning widely. His hands slid up to rest against Jack’s hips before trailing around to his back and he tugged him closer again. Leaning forward, he kissed Jack lightly, then tilted his head to do it again. “I know.” Another brief kiss. “Sorry.”

Jack’s fake frown lasted about thirty more seconds of that before yet another light kiss made his lips quirk. “No you’re not.”

“No.” He agreed, and the next kiss was a little deeper, a little slower. “I’m not.”

A slow sigh. Jack let his eyes fall closed—and another handful of gentle kisses followed, until, abruptly, Hiccup dug his fingers into Jack’s sides and then began to wiggle them there. Jack _squirmed_ and shoved back with a bubble of laughter, the sound forced out of his throat at the tickling sensation.

“Q—quit it!”

“ _Bullshit_. You’re fucking _ticklish?_ ”

Hiccup’s mouth tilted into a crooked grin and he held Jack in place against the other boy’s attempts to push away. His fingers moved again, ticking up to Jack’s ribs and making him bite on his lip to stifle the burst of giggles that tried to escape.

 “H—Hiccup! No fair!”

Chuckling in amusement, Hiccup smoothed his hands back down and leaned in to kiss Jack lightly again, still grinning. “ _Totally. Fucking. Fai_ —”

There was a soft, barely audible _clink_ about then and Hiccup’s words stopped abruptly. An inkling of what had happened was already forefront in his thoughts, but he didn’t know for sure until he tried to pull away—and Jack gave a startled noise, his head jerking forward as Hiccup’s moved back.

“Wha—?” Jack demanded indignantly.

“Ugh,” Hiccup grunted in reply, voice a little muffled but otherwise understandable. “Stay still. I’m stuck on your goddamn braces.”

With the stud in his lower lip hooked into the braces along Jack’s lower teeth he could still talk pretty much properly. Jack, on the other hand, found his lower jaw suddenly immobile and whined when Hiccup tugged lightly again, the motion more than a little uncomfortable for him. “Sh—sherioushly, Hiccuph, gerroff!”

“I’m _trying_ , brace face, but your squirming isn’t helping, dammit—”

It took twenty two minutes before Hiccup finally gave up on trying to get them unstuck. He gave a frustrated noise and leaned back on the pillows, intending to take a moment to come up with another plan. Jack’s annoyed blue gaze stared at him accusingly when he quit and yelped a soft cry, unable to do anything but follow Hiccup into a slightly more horizontal position.

Determined to be free, Jack set about his own shifting and angling and tugging, making Hiccup roll his eyes and snort quietly.

“Ah—ahlmosht, I shink—”

He was so engrossed in trying to pull their mouths apart that he didn’t even notice when Hiccup’s arms drifted around him, hands sliding to rest against the small of his back, and hiking him up a little, settling him more comfortably overtop the brunet. Jack just adjusted with him without even realizing it—until he felt Hiccup smirk a bit and the other boy’s lips just pressed firmly into his once more.

“ _Da hell—?_ ”

Here he was trying to get his teeth loose and rather than helping to that end, Hiccup was just going to go back to kissing him like nothing was wrong. Was he an idiot, or someth— _oh_. Jack’s thoughts stalled, derailing when the mouth against his tilted and Hiccup’s hot tongue pushed past his lips, tracing along his teeth and then pushing against his own.

Jack took a half-breath in through his nose, then just let his eyes close and surrendered, moving his own tongue forward to deepen the kiss. And shit, maybe _he_ was the one who was the idiot, letting his still-unofficial not-really-boyfriend do that kind of thing all the time. But it wasn’t really his _fault_ , right? He couldn’t help it that his brain always checked out completely at moments like this.

Or, almost completely.

Lost in the deep, slow, only slightly awkward kisses that Hiccup was dragging out of him, Jack was once more oblivious when the other teen’s hands began to shift again—until they slid up slightly, then dipped down from the small his back, moving even lower for the very first time until fingers could cup his rear and squeeze carefully.

The feeling made Jack jolt in surprise, jerking back—and just like that, the braces and piercing came apart with a metallic _chink_.

Cheeks bright red, Jack lifted a hand to rub at his mouth, sitting back up again. With his fingers still covering half his face, he glanced back over his shoulder to where Hiccup’s hands continued to rest far lower on his body than they ever had before. He was silent for a long time, unsure how to react.

Still leaning back against the cushions, Hiccup just let his tongue trail out to lick at his own lower lip, adjusting the piercing there. After a moment of waiting for Jack to say something and getting no response, he just moved his hands back up above the other boy’s waist again.

“Sorry.”

Jack swallowed a little, reaching up quickly to adjust his glasses. “No, it’s… it’s okay. It—it didn’t _bother me_ , it just… it was surprising, that’s all.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah, I—I think so.”

One corner of Hiccup’s lips lifted, but he still shook his head. “ _I think so_ isn’t enough, Frosty.”

Looking down slightly, Jack nodded. “I know.” But then, quietly, “Hiccup, why are you like this with me?”

There were a lot of things he could have been referring to, but Hiccup knew precisely what he was asking without having to clarify. Green eyes softened and one hand lifted up to touch fingers lightly along Jack’s jaw. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

The blush across Jack’s features darkened even more and his lips pressed together into a wavering line. Then after a brief pause he leaned down to let his forehead push into the center of Hiccup’s chest, shoulders hunching, and took a faintly shuddering breath. “D-dammit…”

Concerned, Hiccup let a hand move to rest against his head. “…Jack?”

When Jack spoke again he didn’t look up. “I don’t understand. How did you do this to me?”

Frowning, the brunet asked in confusion, “do what?”

And Jack’s next words came out in a quiet, terrified whisper.

“ _How did you make me fall in love with you?_ ”


	11. Chapter 11

It was so quiet he could hear Hiccup’s heartbeat, feel it thudding in the chest under where his head was pressed, surprisingly calm considering how fast his own was racing. In the background the movie had ended, the DVD winding itself down and the television eventually returning to the blank ready-screen.

Hiccup still didn’t say anything and the longer the silence stretched on the more Jack’s frame began to tremble, shoulders shaking. Blue eyes were squeezed tightly closed and his hands were clenched hard in the front of the brunet’s shirt. He had to swallow when his throat closed up, tears beginning to bite at the corners of his eyes.

_Oh, God, I’m so stupid._

Then the hand that was resting against his head moved, stroking down to the back of his neck, and light fingers slid around to tuck under his chin and tug. Jack shook his head, refusing to look up at first. His hands tightened, pulling at the fabric of Hiccup’s shirt. He made a quiet, whimpered negative noise in his throat.

“Jack, look at me.”

“Mm-mm!”

But the other teen was persistent and eventually he managed to get Jack to lift his head an inch or two. It took more time to persuade him to actually look at him—and even longer before Jack was willing to hesitantly meet his eyes, gaze darting to his, then away and back once more time and time again.

Hiccup regarded him quietly, expression unreadable. The fingers under Jack’s chin drifted a little and eventually moved up, touching lightly along his cheek to duck under the edge of the frame of his glasses. He let the rough pad of his thumb brush at the corner of one blue eye.

“No crying.” He murmured softly.

Jack’s brows drew together at that and he swallowed again when his eyes began to sting even more—and Hiccup shifted, leaning forward to press a kiss to his lips, then his cheek, the tip of his nose and his forehead. Jack’s eyes closed again when Hiccup paused there, a soft exhale stirring his bangs.

Breath shuddering in his chest, Jack bit his lip when the tears he had been trying to hold back spilled over finally, trailing downward, silent and painful.

_So, so stupid. How could I say that?_

“Jack,” Hiccup’s lips moved against his forehead, his voice gentle but firm: “it’s okay.”

Jack dug his teeth into his lip even harder and didn’t reply.

“I’m not upset, you don’t have to—” Sighing with a touch of frustration, the brunet pressed another kiss over his bangs. “I just—shit—I’m not sure what to say, here—”

_Don’t say anything. Just don’t._

“I don’t want you to cry like this, Jack, please.”

_And I don’t want to hear that you don’t love me. I don’t want to hear that that’s not what you want from me._

Green eyes were focused on a spot of nothing in the middle of the room. “Please.” And then he tried, softly but unable to come up with any actual humor for the words, “don’t make me tickle you again, because I’ll do it. Hell, you know I will.”

Despite the flatness of the teasing, Jack couldn’t help it when a half-choked laugh worked itself from his throat. “Yeah,” He managed, voice weak and followed by a shaky breath. “I—I know.”

Hiccup moved back then and licked his lips. He reached up to gently adjust Jack’s glasses and then let his hand come to rest against the side of the other teen’s neck, warm and comforting. Green eyes studied him. Jack looked away again, even as he was letting go of Hiccup’s shirt and lifting one hand to scrub at his cheeks, leaving behind nothing but faint tracks where the tears had fallen.

Then he shifted, still not looking at Hiccup, and began to move away, sliding out of the other boy’s lap slowly. Hiccup’s grip on him tightened for a split second and he looked like he was going to protest—then thought better of it and loosened his hands again.

“Where are you going?”

Jack just shrugged with one shoulder, distancing himself to sit at the edge of the bed, his back to Hiccup, slumped a bit and his eyes on the floor. “I’m sorry.” He said finally. “We were having fun, and I just—I—” A quiet murmur, “I’m just really sorry. Maybe you should go.”

“What?” Hiccup shook his head. “Jesus, are you serious?”

“Yeah.”

“No, you’ve got to be kidding.”

“Hiccup…”

“ _No_ ,” The punk repeated, a frown pulling his lips downward. “You don’t get to—you just told me you loved me, for fuck’s sake!”

Jack flinched slightly—then jerked when a hand came down on his shoulder and pulled him around. He was really trying not to look at Hiccup right now, but it was hard when the other teen forced the issue like that. Blue eyes darted to the side quickly, but when Hiccup leaned closer he couldn’t help it when they moved back again. Hiccup’s mouth twisted a little and he glanced downward, then up again. The hand on Jack’s shoulder lifted to take hold of the side of his head.

“I told you, I’m not upset.”

“I know, but…” Jack’s gaze darted again, eye contact broken quickly. “I didn’t mean—”

Hiccup froze at that, tensing. “Don’t say you didn’t mean it. Don’t. Don’t lie to me like that.”

“No!” Startled by the intensity in Hiccup’s words, Jack shook his head, eyes flying back to him. “I—I didn’t—I was going to say—” And then he looked down again. “I—I meant it. I just didn’t… I didn’t mean to _tell you_.”

“But why?”

Jack continued looking down, shoulders hunching a little. He didn’t respond for a long time, because wasn’t it obvious? He and Hiccup were friends, or at least he considered them to be, and had been on a date. They apparently had chemistry, based on the heated kissing and touching.

But he hadn’t introduced Hiccup to North and he had never met the other teen’s father, either. They didn’t spend time together at school, with the exception of the occasional brief hello on the way past or their secret meetings in the science hall closet. They had never been together in public except for at the nightclub where no one would recognize them.

It was pretty clear, to Jack at least, that Hiccup wasn’t comfortable with other people seeing them together.

He couldn’t blame the brunet, really. They were just too different: Jack was a total geek, quiet and relatively mousy and unimportant. People ignored him, and when they didn’t it was to pick on him in some way. Hiccup was the complete opposite, tough and loud and rough around the edges.

Others would probably expect Hiccup to bully him—not to be friends with him, not to _like_ him. Definitely not to be dating him.

“You don’t feel like that about me.” Jack said quietly after a moment. “That’s why.” Then he swallowed and continued, “sure, for some—for some reason you’re attracted to me. Or maybe you’re just trying to see if you can get in my pants. But you don’t love me, and it’s probably stupid that I’ve managed to fall for you anyway.”

Hiccup’s grip on his shoulder abruptly tightened—then released, and when Jack looked up again he had the heels of his hands pressed into his eyes. “ _The fuck_ , Jack?” His lips twisted angrily. “I _like_ you, you shithead! I like talking to you and being with you and spending time with you! I like kissing you and touching you! I like when you smile and I like your laugh and I even like it when your glasses slide down your nose! You’re so fucking cute I can’t even stand it sometimes! And, no offense dumbass, but if all I wanted was to _get in your goddamn pants_ , I’d’ve banged you a long time ago and moved on! It’s not exactly like you’re fighting me off with a stick, you know!”

A frustrated noise then, and he let his hands drop away from his eyes. His head fell back for a moment before he looked back at Jack again, expression serious.

“Just because I can’t tell you I love you back—”

And that hurt, because Jack was absolutely sure, was _certain_ that Hiccup never would. There was a difference between liking someone and loving them, after all. His mouth twitched and he blinked quickly, tears threatening again at the thought.

But when he sniffed, just quietly, Hiccup’s hands abruptly grabbed at him—and a second later he was being pulled into a tight hug. Jack made a surprised noise, then just gave in and buried his face in the other’s throat, his own arms wrapping around Hiccup’s neck, holding him close.

His breath shuddered against Hiccup’s neck. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t apologise,” Hiccup murmured, his chin resting against Jack’s shoulder. He tipped his head to kiss against the other boy’s jaw. “It’s okay.”

“It’s not okay.”

“It is. You can’t help how you feel, Frostbite.”

“Hiccup…?”

“Mm?”

“…I love you.”

“I know.”


	12. Chapter 12

Hiccup didn’t stick around for too much longer after that. When he left there weren’t many words exchanged, just soft goodbyes before he disappeared and Jack was left to close the door in his wake. He leaned back against it for a moment before slowly climbing the stairs up to his room again.

He stayed there for the rest of the night and the entire next day, not even leaving to eat, curled up in his bed with the covers pulled up over his head and a pillow clutched tightly in his arms. He cried, once or twice, quietly so his Dad couldn’t hear him. North still worried, though, and eventually brought a couple of sandwiches and some cookies up, leaving them outside his son’s door.

They were still there when Jack finally got up Monday morning and forced himself to get ready for school. He picked the still-full plate up on his way downstairs and left it on the kitchen counter.

At school, Hiccup seemed to be avoiding him. The brunet didn’t shoot him the same secret looks he usually did, and didn’t greet him even in any of their shared classes. Every time he walked past and didn’t look his way or say anything Jack’s chest hurt.

At lunch time he very seriously considered cutting the rest of the day and hiding out in the library or something, but then couldn’t bring himself to actually do it. His father would kill him if he skipped classes again, anyway.

When school got out for the day, habit had him halfway to the rugby field before his steps paused and he stopped abruptly, realizing. Still, he hesitated and considered continuing on for a moment—but, in the end, turned around and headed home instead, where he just locked himself up in his room once more.

North at least got him to eat dinner that night, and Jack was silent despite his Dad’s attempts at conversation—at least until he began coaxing him to tell him what was wrong.

“It’s been two days, Jack. What happened?”

Jack just poked at his food with his fork for a minute before taking a small bite of potatoes and choking it down. “Nothing.”

“There’s obviously something wrong.”

A slight shrug.

The man across from him narrowed his eyes slightly. “Is there’s bullying again?”

He hadn’t had a good time of it at his last school, and had gotten picked on and beaten up on more than a regular basis, and that was even before the braces. He’d put up with it for three years before North had finally found out—that was why he had transferred to Berk High in his senior year.

Jack had fully expected for things to continue, just with different bullies, when he got to the new school, but now that he had been there for a while it seemed that the kids in Berk High were less inclined toward that kind of thing. It was a relief, really.

“Jack?”

“No, no one’s bothering me.”

North considered for a second, then, “is it about a girl?”

“I—what?” Jack jerked a little, eyes lifting finally, and swallowed a bit before shaking his head. “No!”

He knew what his father meant, of course, and supposed the correct answer could have been _yes._ Not about a _girl_ , per se, but about a relationship. One that no one even knew about. One that, for all intents and purposes, didn’t exist. One that, from the way Hiccup had ignored him all day, might have ended a couple of nights ago because he couldn’t keep his stupid mouth shut.

But Hiccup had said it was okay. He’d said he had been fine with it.

Now it was starting to become clear that he had lied.

The thought made him look down again, and North frowned worriedly.

“Jack—”

“I’m done. Thanks for dinner.” Jack set his fork down and pushed his plate away. Standing, he quickly made a break for the door before his Dad could protest and left North muttering to himself as he climbed the stairs and locked himself up in his bedroom again.

Hiccup didn’t show up that night, not that he had really expected him to. Still, there had been a part of him that had hoped that everything at school had been his imagination and the other boy would appear at his window the same way he did almost every night.

When it didn’t happen he cursed himself for being an idiot and actually falling for Hiccup Haddock.

But he couldn’t stop from crying himself to sleep that night anyway, only to wake up the next morning with red eyes and a pounding headache. He went to school anyway, couldn’t concentrate on any of his subjects, didn’t learn anything, and then went home and did it all over again the next day.

This went on for over a week, until his father was all but forcing him to eat and threatening to send him to a therapist just so he would have someone he could talk to. Jack rejected that idea immediately, continuing to insist nothing was going on. North was a smart man, though, and again didn’t believe him.

The following Tuesday, he was still dragging his heels in the hallway between classes, digging in his locker absently when the bell rang. Late already, he didn’t bother to hurry as the hallway cleared out, the rest of the students heading off and leaving him alone in the now-empty corridor.

He was just closing his locker door when footsteps approached from the left. The next thing he knew, a hand was grabbing at the back of his shirt and he was being spun around, shoved back against the metal behind him. Jack yelped in surprise even as familiar fingers tangled into his hair and lips pressed to his in a hard kiss.

“M-mm—!”

When Hiccup pulled back a minute later, one arm braced against the lockers beside him and his other hand still in his hair, Jack stared at him, just not sure how to react at all.

“I can’t do this. I just—I fucking _can’t_.” They were the only ones in the hallway, but Hiccup’s voice was low anyway.

Jack shook his head, confused. “Wh—what—”

Hiccup swallowed and looked at him. Green eyes flickered over his uncharacteristically sloppy clothes, exhausted look and the dark circles under his eyes—and his brows drew together. “Jack…”

The other boy looked away, but only for a moment before Hiccup was tugging at his hair again and leaning in for another kiss—then another, and another, hard and insistent—and after a few seconds of that Jack couldn’t help it. He _broke_ and dropped his backpack with a thud, his hands flying up to take hold of either side of Hiccup’s head, fingers tight in auburn hair and poured himself into the next kiss, all yearning and desperation.

Then Hiccup was pushing closer, kissing harder and deeper for a minute. When he eventually broke off, it was to press his lips to the corner of Jack’s mouth, then his cheek, then down against the side of his throat and the crook of his neck.

“I tried.” He said finally, voice a touch shaky, “you were freaking out and I tried so fucking hard to give you space and let you get your shit figured out, but— _dammit_ —fuck, Jack, I can’t do it!”

“I never asked for space!”

“I know, but, Christ, you were so upset and I didn’t know what to do—” Hiccup shook his head, hand tightening in Jack’s hair, and lifted his head, leaning to kiss him again, and then again before speaking harshly against the other’s lips, “but I _can’t_ —you’re here every day and I have to see you, and I can’t just _not fucking look at you!_ And every night—shit, Jack, every damn night all I could think about was going to see you and I _couldn’t_ and it—goddamn it, it _hurt_ , and I—”

Jack’s voice came out high and plaintive, “you should’ve told me! I’ve been—I thought—I thought you _hated me!_ ”

“I don’t hate you! I told you, I—” The punk pressed his forehead into Jack’s for a second before going in for yet another kiss. “I just thought it’d be good to give you some time, but I can’t do it anymore! I can’t _not be around you_ , it’s—it’s too fucking hard. _It’s too hard_ and it _hurts_ and I _hate_ it!”

And then tears were in Jack’s eyes again and he was crying and Hiccup was pulling him away from the lockers, picking up his backpack from the floor. Steering him down the corridor, he pulled Jack through the hall, across the building, out the front doors—and Jack just stumbled along with him, trying to swallow little sniffles and sobs the entire time.

“Come on.” The hand on Jack’s arm released once they reached the sidewalk, then dropped to take hold of one of his. Hiccup gripped his hand hard and then continued walking.

Jack wasn’t all that surprised when they came up on Hiccup’s house. Neither was he surprised when the other teen unlocked the front door, tugged him inside and up the stairs, then pushed him into his bedroom and closed the door behind them.

The backpack was dropped again and then Hiccup was yanking him forward into a hug. Jack tensed for a split second, then fell against him, hugging him back tightly—and the crying started over again, sobs muffled when he buried his face in Hiccup’s shirt.

“Shit—Jack—oh, God, I’m sorry, I’m _so_ fucking sorry!” Hiccup just shook his head and clutched the other boy closer to himself. “I didn’t think… I didn’t realize—fuck, I should never have…” He swallowed hard, eyes darting side-to-side. He didn’t think he had ever fucked up so badly in his life. “Shit, shit I’m such a goddamn idiot—”

“H-Hiccup…?”

“Y-yeah?”

“J-Just stop talking, okay?” Jack’s voice came out weak and shaky, his breath hitching as he sniffled quietly. He continued holding tight to Hiccup. “I—I need to sit down, I think…”

“Huh? Uh—right. Here.”

Arms still around Jack’s shaking frame, Hiccup tugged him over to the bed and sat them both down. They were still for a few minutes, then, just holding onto one another until Jack finally moved back a little, loosening his hold. Red-rimmed eyes lifted to look at Hiccup and he swallowed thickly.

Hiccup just looked at him, expression sad and guilty. He was about to apologise again when Jack leaned in to kiss him, just gently this time. When he pulled away afterward he pushed at Hiccup’s chest.

“I’m not—I don’t mean for—but—could you just—just lay down? Please?”

The brunet blinked slowly, balking at the idea for a moment before finally shifting around slowly to climb farther onto the mattress. He settled on his back, a light frown tugging at his lips—but then he understood a few seconds later when Jack crawled over, settled down and tucked himself into his side with a soft, unintelligible murmur. His voice was hoarse from crying.

A quiet sound in his throat and Hiccup moved around a little until he was half on his side as well, facing Jack. He slid an arm over the other boy’s waist and let a white-topped head come to rest tucked under his chin. Jack’s breathing was still shaky, but began to settle down as he slowly relaxed, blue eyes closing over.

“You kind of look like shit, Jack.”

“Haven’t been sleeping much…”

“I—I’m so fucking sorry. Really.”

“S’—” Jack began, then changed his mind. “I mean… s’not _okay_ , but…” A slight shug. His voice was starting to get softer, his breath evening out. “Just… next time _tell me_ … ‘really thought you hated me now…”

“Well I don’t.” Hiccup closed his own eyes, tilting his head to kiss against Jack’s hair. “Look… we’re staying here for a while, Frostbite. At least ‘til after school’s out. You should maybe get some rest.”

“Jack?”

He had already fallen asleep.


	13. Chapter 13

When Jack woke up a few hours later, he was groggy but warm and comfortable. Disoriented for just a second, he frowned, wrinkled his nose—then, when his mind supplied a reason for the arms that were still around him, simply sighed and nuzzled down into Hiccup’s chest again, eyes still closed and breathing even.

Another couple of minutes passed before he did finally crack his eyes open. His gaze resting against the wall across from him, vision blurry around the edges, and that was when he realized he wasn’t wearing his glasses. He made a little noise in his throat, lifting his head to look around for a second before deciding he would worry about it later.

Then he turned his attention to Hiccup.

The punk still had an arm hooked around him, holding him close and his head had fallen sideways, chin tucked into his own shoulder a little. His hair was mussed, his eyes closed, his breathing even. He was asleep.

Jack studied him for a while, then let his head lower to rest against Hiccup’s chest again. One arm moved a little until his hand was resting next to his face, his fingers touching lightly along the front of Hiccup’s shirt, feeling out the fabric and the muscle underneath absently.

“Molesting me while I’m out cold, huh? Didn’t think you had it in you, Frosty.”

Jumping slightly at the words, Jack jerked his hand away quickly. “S-sorry! I thought you were asleep!”

Hiccup just chuckled, the sound warm and amused, his chest rumbling along with it. When Jack looked up at him, green eyes were half-open and an amused smile was tilting his mouth. “Obviously.” He shifted then, adjusting himself and reaching over toward the bedside table, and a second later he was placing Jack’s glasses back on the other boy’s face, pushing them up his nose gently. “Here. The damn things were digging into my chest so I took them off.”

“Oh.” Jack’s lips lifted into a faint smile.

“So, how do you feel?”

“Still tired.” His arm settled to rest over Hiccup’s chest again and he sighed softly. “But okay, I guess.”

Hiccup’s response to that was a quiet noise in his throat and a light brush of his hand against Jack’s hair. Jack leaned his head back down again, his fingers beginning to toy with the edge of the zip on Hiccup’s vest, the metal teeth catching on his nails lightly. Neither of them said anything for quite a while.

“I’m sor—”

“Hiccup… stop apologising.”

Hiccup gave a harsh sigh. “You should hate my fucking guts, you know.”

“J-just because—”

“Just because I apparently broke your goddamn heart this past week, Jack.”

Jack swallowed. His fingers paused against Hiccup’s chest. When he looked up a moment later it was to push his glasses up absently. Then he bit his lip before leaning to kiss the brunet. Hiccup was still for another second. The hand at Jack’s hair slid down to rest against his side again, then, and he tilted his head, kissing back gently.

The next few minutes were filled with soft kisses, just brushes of lips and tongues. Despite the silence, though, a lot was being said: words exchanged between breaths and the touch of their mouths, more ‘I’m sorry’s from Hiccup and ‘I love you’ repeated over and over again by Jack until they were both breathless and had to break apart for air.

Leaning his forehead against Hiccup’s, Jack closed his eyes and took a shuddering breath. Things weren’t any less confusing, now. Yes, he knew he had been wrong to assume that Hiccup had been avoiding him because he didn’t want anything to do with him, but now that he knew otherwise…

“Jack.”

“Mm?”

“C’mere.” Hiccup’s arms tightened around him and the other teen kissed him again, angling his head for a deeper taste of the other boy. Jack sighed, sounding contented, and Hiccup smiled just a little. “I’m sorry,” He repeated, and then, when Jack began to protest, “Look, I won’t do it again, okay?”

“Promise…?”

“Yeah. I couldn’t handle it anyway.”

Jack looked down a bit. “Me neither. I just…” Another shaky breath and he leaned his forehead down against Hiccup’s chest, embarrassed. “I spent the entire time miserable. I couldn’t sleep or eat or study, I—I failed two tests! _Two!_ ”

Hiccup actually chuckled at that. “What’d your Dad have to say about that?”

“He was too worried about me to be mad, I think.”

Jack shifted again, up to bury his face in Hiccup’s throat. The brunet made a soft sound and dropped a kiss against Jack’s jaw, then back by his ear. Jack bit his lip—then just tilted his head to give the punk better access. There was a short, brief hesitation from Hiccup at that—and Jack gasped softly a second later when teeth closed against his ear, nipping gently.

A minute later Jack sighed again, still half-propped over Hiccup, and shivered when the punk drifted a hand down to the small of his back, pausing to let his fingers rub there. Lips continued to trail against his skin, down his neck and around to the hollow of his throat.

Then Hiccup’s mouth closed against the side of his neck and he _sucked_ , then nipped lightly at the sensitive skin a minute later. When Jack gasped at the feeling he smirked, laving is tongue over the bruise he’d just pulled up, tongue stud dragging across the mark. Jack whimpered softly, fingers catching in the front of his shirt again.

“So goddamn cute.” Laughing, Hiccup shifted to bite just below the first mark, tongue working, and sucked in a sharp breath when Jack shivered and groaned but didn’t pull away. “Fuck. Jack… you seriously like that, huh?”

“I—I don’t—” Shaking his head, Jack bit on his lip lightly, flushing red, then shuddered when Hiccup’s teeth brushed along one of the new bruises again. He licked his lips. “…y-yeah.”

There was a deep sigh against his neck, breath hot—and then Hiccup’s arms tightened around him and Jack gasped in surprise when the other boy flipped them over quickly, settling over him with a grin. Jack blinked slowly, swallowing, his gaze shifting to the side when Hiccup’s eyes slid to the marks he had just left behind.

One finger trailed down the side of his neck and Jack twitched, blush darkening.

“How’re you gonna explain that shit to your Dad, hm?”

“I—I don’t know…”

“Heh.” The other teen leaned down again, lips brushing along his jaw and down, one hand coming up to tug at the collar of his shirt. The top button popped open and teeth bit down lightly just over his clavicle. “Never would’ve thought you’d have a fucking _biting_ kink.”

Jack just whined, head falling backward. “ _Hiccup…!_ ”

Hiccup’s response was another bite by the crook of his neck, followed by a sucking kiss over the same place. When Jack’s hands came up, one to hold at his back and the other grabbing at his upper arm, he laughed and pulled away far enough to look over his handiwork.

Breathing hard, eyes a touch glazed, Jack swallowed thickly.

At that, Hiccup shook his head, leaning in to kiss him. “Shit, Jack, I can’t believe you’re just gonna lay there and look at me like that.” Closing his eyes briefly, he took a slow breath, “you should be telling me to stop, you know. Push me away.”

Shifting, Jack licked his lips. He swallowed again. “I—I don’t want to. You’re not doing anything I don’t—I mean—I _like_ it, so…”

“I’ve got you in my fucking _bed_ , Four-Eyes. It’s really testing my patience.” But before Jack could say anything in response to that, Hiccup was pulling away and sitting up, legs swinging over the edge of the bed. He stood carefully, then held a hand out toward the other boy. “Come on, I’ll take you home.”

Jack just made a frustrated noise, head falling back against the pillows, and lifted one arm to fling over his eyes, face flushed. “ _Hiccup…_ ”

Running a hand through his own hair, Hiccup shrugged. “We’ve talked about this. I’m not gonna… _fuck_ , not that I don’t _want to_ , but—”

Breaking off, he looked down when Jack took hold of his hand. The white-haired teen was smiling, despite the flush across his face and the rumpled state of his clothes. The marks on his throat stood out darkly against his pale skin. Hiccup just let his lips quirk into a slight smile and pulled him to his feet.

There was a bit of a pause then while Jack straightened his clothes and did up the top button of his shirt.

“Jack?”

“Yeah?”

“I really… I’m sorry.”

“You should be. How am I going to explain all this to my Dad?”

“No, I mean about—”

Exasperated. “I _know_ , already.”

With his clothing fixed, Jack retrieved his backpack from across the room. A quick glance at his watch made him wince slightly—it was after five, way past when he was usually home from school. Digging through his bag, he retrieved his cell phone—it had been turned off for classes—and when he turned it on, he could only make a face.

Two calls and a handful of worried texts from his father.

“Dad called. Twice. And texted.”

“Ouch.”

“He’s going to kill me.”

“Well,” Hiccup shrugged helplessly, “we’d better get you back then.”


	14. Chapter 14

Explaining where he had been and why he hadn’t gone to school that day to his father had been difficult and more than a little full of awkwardness and lies. North hadn’t believed pretty much anything he’d said, which mostly had to do with the multiple dark hickeys that marred his neck.

When asked about them, Jack had just shuffled and avoided North’s eyes, and between his refusal to tell his dad anything about where he’d disappeared to and who he had been with—because he had _obviously_ been with _someone_ —North had eventually gotten angry.

Normally a cheerful, jolly man, his temper could be a little scary when it eventually did show itself. Jack counted himself lucky when, after some brief shouting, he was simply escorted to his room and grounded for the rest of the week. His father had headed down the stairs then, muttering to himself the entire time.

To say he wasn’t used to Jack getting into trouble or being rebellious was an understatement.

Jack, for his part, just flopped on his bed and blew out a harsh breath. Then he sat back up and plucked his cell phone from the bedside table. Chewing on his lip, he considered for a long moment before scrolling through his contacts and opening up a text window.

_[sent] My Dad grounded me._

He hesitated before hitting send. He had only just managed to finally get Hiccup’s phone number before coming home an hour ago—which, really, was kind of pathetic considering how long they had known each other—and, really, was it stupid for him to be texting the other boy already? Eventually he sent the message anyway, cheeks flushing even though no one else was there to see.

It took a whole minute and a half before his phone chirped at him, vibrating in his hand.

_[rec] But he didn’t take your cell?_

Jack frowned. _[sent]_ _I’ve never been grounded before. I don’t think he even thought of my phone._

Hiccup’s amusement was practically palpable in his response: _[rec]_ _Amateur._

_[sent] Shut up. This is your fault._

_[rec] You need to loosen up a little._

_[sent] Do not._

_[rec] Do too._

_[sent] Do not._

There was a bit of a pause, then: _[rec]_ _I’m still coming over later._

Jack rolled his eyes. _[sent] I just told you I’m grounded._

_[rec] See you tonight._

A short hesitation before: _[sent] See you tonight._

Had he really thought that him being grounded would keep Hiccup from climbing through his window every night? Jack set his cell down on the end table again and resolved to keep busy for the next couple hours until Hiccup showed up.

In the end he reorganized his bookcase, pulling everything out and stacking the books around the room, going through them carefully before deciding to set things up alphabetically by series and author. It took longer to do so than he had anticipated, the time passing without him noticing until it was late and dark outside.

He was concentrating so hard on replacing the books on the shelves that he didn’t hear the scuffling sounds on the wall outside or the window opening quietly. In fact, he didn’t even notice Hiccup approaching until arms slid around him from behind, making him jump and barely stifle a startled shout.

“Hey, shit, quiet!”

“S-sorry!” Jack had dropped the books in his hands and glanced toward the door, worried that his father had heard them hit the ground. But when a couple of minutes passed and North didn’t knock on the door, he relaxed again.

Hiccup was already nosing into his neck, kissing along his throat. Jack just swallowed thickly.

“Hiccup, wh—”

“Didn’t I just say to be quiet?”

“W-well yeah, but—”

“So shut up.” The brunet nipped on his ear. His voice was low. “If your Dad catches me here we’re fucked, right?”

“You’re taking advantage of the situation!” Came Jack’s hissed response—and then he groaned softly when Hiccup just licked at the corner of his neck. He could feel the other boy smirk against his skin.

And then he was released. Hiccup stepped back, then stooped down to pick up the books Jack had dropped, stacking them up carefully and then lifting them. Jack watched wordlessly as the punk proceeded to look over his shelves, take note of his new organizational system, and then begin placing the novels into their proper places. He was vaguely impressed with how fast Hiccup figured everything out.

“Uh, thanks?”

“It was my bad, I made you drop ‘em.”

Sometimes Hiccup still surprised him. Jack shifted a little, looking around the room at the remaining stacks of books. Eventually he decided he would finish putting them away later. Hiccup, however, finished with the books in his arms, just moved on to the closest pile of novels, stacked up on the edge of the desk.

“I was surprised you texted me. You’d only had my number for about five fucking minutes. Sure didn’t take very damn long.”

Jack cleared his throat, face coloring, and shrugged a little. “Y-yeah, well…”

Green eyes flicked over to him and Hiccup’s smirk returned. “God, you really are adorable.”

“Sh-shut up.” Jack looked away, embarrassed, and then, because he felt stupid just standing there, moved over to the desk, hopping up to perch on it, bracing his hands against the desktop on either side of him. He swung his legs a little, absently, and watched as Hiccup continued to file his books.

They were quiet for a few minutes, Hiccup continuing to work with apparent concentration—but Jack noted that his eyes kept flitting sideways to look at him every few seconds. Eventually, when his arms were empty again, he turned to pick up another pile of books—then obviously changed his mind, instead stepping over to stand in front of Jack.

The white-haired boy blinked at him, tilting his head curiously.

Hiccup just looked back at him. His hands came up to rest against Jack’s thighs lightly before sliding up to his hips, and he took a slow breath but still didn’t say anything. Eventually Jack decided he would have to be the one to take the initiative, this time, though it didn’t happen often. Reaching up, he grabbed hold of the front of the brunet’s shirt, pulling him down for a kiss.

There was a vague, muffled surprised noise from Hiccup, but he didn’t complain. Instead his hands moved, rubbing against Jack’s hips a bit, and he tilted his head to return the kiss, pressing deeper into it. Jack sighed, lips parting and letting his tongue move forward to meet with the other boy’s.

“Nn… why can’t I stop kissing you…?”

Jack didn’t respond, just smiled against Hiccup’s mouth and let his hands move to hold against the punk’s upper arms. Hiccup sighed, eyes closed—and moved forward slightly, sliding himself closer, in between Jack’s legs, his arms coming up and around him, hands drifting up his back. Jack took a bit of a shaky breath at that, but didn’t complain.

Another few kisses—some brief and light and some longer and deeper—and then Hiccup moved on, brushing his lips along Jack’s jaw, down to bite at his ear, making the other teen shiver slightly.

“H-Hiccup…”

“Mmh…”

Letting his head fall to the side, Jack gasped softly at the heated kisses that trailed down his neck, the teeth grazing at the crook of his neck. When Hiccup’s hands moved to rub down his spine, fingers dipping under the edge of his sweater, touching heatedly, Jack _shuddered_ , biting on his lip to muffle a gasp.

His reactions made Hiccup stifle a soft groan of his own and his hands groped a bit, sliding against smooth pale skin and _pulling_ , sliding Jack against the desktop, closer to himself.

And then Jack’s own hands moved, across to knead against Hiccup’s chest and down, touching lightly, tentatively along his ribs and back up. Hiccup hissed quietly and dove in for another kiss, hot and hard, rough, leaving Jack breathless and panting when he pulled back a couple of minutes later.

When his attention went back to Jack’s throat, the other teen’s head tilted back and he _moaned_.

Hiccup’s grip on him tightened, jerking him even closer until they were pressed completely against one another. The desk creaked, complaining the movement, and banged back into the wall slightly. One of Jack’s hands released Hiccup’s chest and jumped back to brace against the top of the desk, knocking over a tin of pencils as he fumbled for purchase.

Neither of them noticed how loud they were getting until the bedroom door suddenly swung open.

There was a brief pause as North took in the scene before him: his son tangled up with a strange boy he had never met, pushed flush against the other teen and both of them panting, flushed and—

Normally jovial eyes darkened. “Jack.”

“D-Dad!” Jack yelped, gasping for air and stumbling for words.

Hiccup, meanwhile, hesitated before moving back, hands sliding away from Jack and falling to his sides. He swallowed, gaze darting from Jack to North and back again, unsure what to do or say. If speaking up would just end up with him getting his ass severely kicked or not.

Before he could even decide, though, North was moving across the room. A large hand grabbed hold of his upper arm and he was dragged away from Jack, back toward the door and shoved harshly into the hallway beyond, even as Jack fumbled after them both.

“Dad, q-quit it! Let me explain!”

North ignored him in favor of lowering a scathing glare on Hiccup and jabbing a finger in his direction.

“Don’t make me show you the door.”


	15. Chapter 15

For just a second when North ordered him out, Hiccup looked as if he was going to decline. His jaw tightened and his eyes hardened for a breath—but then he glanced back toward Jack, who was looking desperate and panicked, and decided that he didn’t want to make it worse for the other boy.

So instead of fighting back, he just silently descended the stairs, North following close behind him, and went to the door. Once there he paused with his hand on the knob just long enough to look back at Jack once more—and then pulled the door open and left the house, closing it behind himself with a soft click.

Jack watched, stricken, his heart in his throat. He had paused halfway down the staircase, one hand clenching so hard on the banister that his nails dug in and his knuckles were white.

Down in the entryway, his father stared at the closed door for a long moment before he spoke. “Jack.”

He flinched and swallowed. “Dad—”

“Get down here.”

“Dad, I—”

“ _Now_ , Jack.”

Jack pried his hand away from the banister rail with some difficulty and walked the last few steps down until he was on the same level ground as North. He hesitated then, shifting from one foot to the other.

After a moment, North turned around to face him, expression stony. His eyes surveyed Jack and he frowned even more. “Fix your clothes.”

He looked down at himself, dismayed to find his clothing in disarray, and set about straightening it under his father’s watchful gaze, pulling his shirt down and smoothing at it anxiously, then tugging at his collar in an absent and useless bid to hide some of the dark purple-and-red hickeys that marred his neck.

“Is he the one you were with today?”

“Dad, listen, I can explain—”

But North held a hand up, stopping him from continuing, and pointed a finger for emphasis. “Is he the one you _cut school with today_ , Jack?”

“…yes.”

“And you came home with those—marks.”

“…yes.”

North’s lips pressed together in a hard line. “And before, when you missed some classes?”

“…yes.”

“This whole last week and a half, that too?”

“I—” Jack looked down, one hand coming up to rub against the opposite arm nervously. He swallowed and nodded a little. “We—there was a misunderstanding. We got into a fight… sort of.”

“How long has this been going on? How long has he been sneaking into the house?”

“…a… a while…”

“ _Behind my back_ , Jack?”

A hardly-audible reply: “I’m—I’m sorry, Dad.”

There was a long silence then, Jack still looking down at the ground determinedly and North just looking at him without a word, expression stony and serious. He seemed to be thinking over what he had just seen and heard. Eventually, Jack let his eyes hesitantly flick upward—then down again quickly when he saw the look on his father’s face. Anger and disappointment.

“This…” He started tentatively, voice barely a whisper. His glasses began to slip down his nose but he didn’t bother to fix them. “This isn’t how I wanted you to find out…”

North didn’t say anything to that, just continued looking at him for another long few minutes. Jack’s grip on his own arm tightened, fingers digging in until it was almost painful. Eventually, though, North spoke again, his tone flat and serious, begging no argument from the boy in front of him.

“I don’t want you seeing him again.”

Jack’s head whipped up so fast his neck hurt. “ _Dad, no!_ ”

“Jack, he’s clearly a bad influence on you.”

“Dad, you can’t be serious, you can’t do this— _please!_ ”

“You’re skipping school, moping around, failing tests, _lying_ to me—”

“ _Dad—!_ ”

“You’re not to be friends with him anymore, Jack—”

“We’re not—we’re not _friends_ , Dad!” Jack’s voice took on a desperate tone and he shook his head harshly, hands flying down to his sides, balling into fists there. “I—I mean, we _are_ , but—it’s more than that, and—”

“I forbid you from—”

“ _I’M IN LOVE WITH HIM, OKAY?!_ ”

North stared at him. “You’re—”

Breathing hard now, almost panicking, Jack blinked harshly against tears. His voice came out high and tight, cracking a little, frantic when he spoke again. “I—I love him, okay?” He repeated, shaking his head again, “I love him _so much_ , and I can’t just—I can’t _not see him!_ And I _know_ —I know he’s a guy, but I thought you’d be okay with that! A-and—and I know he’s _trouble_ , too—but he’s so good to me, and he _likes_ _me_ and he _sees_ _me_ , Dad! And I’m—I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner, and I’m sorry I snuck around—but I wasn’t _ready_ to tell you, I wasn’t ready to be _out yet_ a-and—”

He stopped then, floundering when he couldn’t come up with anything else to say, and thankfully North lifted a hand to halt the torrent of words anyway. Jack swallowed down the urge to cry, biting down harshly on his own lip to quell the tears. His hands flexed at his sides, clenching and unclenching restlessly.

“This isn’t about him being a boy, Jack.” North told him finally. “This isn’t about you being gay. We can talk about that later.” His tone was still serious, though, understanding pushed to the side for the moment. “This is about you sneaking around behind my back. You’re doing things you never would have before. I assume that boy is the reason for it.”

“Dad, _please_ , you can’t make me stop seeing him, I _can’t_ —”

“It’s for your own good, Jack. You’re not to associate with him anymore.”

Jack tried to argue more, but North was having none of it. He didn’t shout, didn’t even raise his voice, just stayed stony and serious the entire time.

By the time he was ordered back to his room, Jack found himself unable to fight back the tears anymore—and when he stepped over the threshold and closed the door they began to fall. He slumped back against the door and slid down until he was seated, pulling his legs up to his chest and leaning his head down to sob into his arms where they crossed over his knees.

He knew North didn’t mean to upset him so much—his father was just looking out for him, right? But the idea of not being with Hiccup _hurt_ , _badly_ , and this time was worse than the last week had been. It felt more final, more firm, like there was nothing he could do about it. Because in his entire life he had never done anything to go against his Dad. But now…

The next day North had to physically drag him out of bed and force him to go to school. Jack didn’t want to, of course—he knew what it would be like to be there, sit through classes, sit through lunch, and know that he had to tell Hiccup that whatever was between them—their weird, quasi-relationship—was over.

He spotted Hiccup at his own locker before first period started. Slow steps took him across the hall until he was close enough to reach and hook his fingers in the back of the other boy’s shirt. Red-rimmed eyes focused downward, he waited for Hiccup to acknowledge him, ignoring the strange looks he was getting from the other students around them.

“Jack?” Hiccup didn’t protest the fact that he had approached him in public. His voice was soft, tinged with worry.

Jack swallowed hard and tightened his hand in the other boy’s shirt slightly. “My Dad,” he began in barely a whisper, and had to swallow again when the words broke in his throat: “my Dad says I can’t see you anymore.”

“ _What?_ ”

He still didn’t lift his eyes. His lips pressed together, wavering slightly, and his shoulders began to shake. “I’m sorry.”

The entire conversation was in hushed tones, words that no one else could hear despite the crowded corridor. Jack was trying very hard not to break down completely, even though it felt like his heart had broken into a million pieces. Hiccup simply shook his head in disbelief—and then slammed his locker shut abruptly.

The next thing Jack knew a hand was grasping at him, fingers threading in with his, and Hiccup was pulling him along the hallway once more. This time was different than before, though: Hiccup had never held his hand like that in school, had never been so gentle when he dragged him around in front of other people. It had always seemed like Jack was in trouble, before, but this was something else entirely.

They only made it through the crowd unmolested because Hiccup glared harshly at anyone who dared even consider approach them.

This time people saw them go into the storage closet together. Hiccup didn’t seem to care.

“Jack.” The instant the door was closed, the brunet yanked him into a hug, arms tight around him, and Jack just collapsed against his chest, fighting down sobs once more. He managed to keep them from escaping, just burying his face in the crook of Hiccup’s neck and taking shuddering breath after shuddering breath. “What did he say?”

It took a minute for him to compose himself. Jack clutched his hands in the back of Hiccup’s vest and mumbled into freckled skin. “You’re a bad influence. He doesn’t want me to associate with you anymore.”

Hiccup was quiet for a few breaths, then just muttered, “shit, Jack.”

“I can’t _not see you_ , I—” The white-haired boy shook his head, fingers digging into Hiccup’s shoulders slightly. “But I—I don’t know what I can do—”

The arms around him tightened even more, holding him close against Hiccup’s chest, and the other teen leaned his head sideways against Jack’s hair a little. “Christ, I… hey, it’s okay. _It’s okay_.”

“It’s not _okay!_ ” Jack all but sobbed.

Hiccup swallowed hard at that and grit his teeth. “Jack, listen to me. We’ll figure something out, alright? We’ll—fuck—I’m not gonna just cut you out of my life! There’s no fucking way that’s going to happen, I promise!”

“How can you promise something like that—”

“I have to.” The punk grit out, then tilted his head and pressed a kiss against Jack’s hair, still hugging him tightly. “We _have to think of something_. Listen,” A short hesitation then, and he pulled away, forcing Jack back a little even when the other teen continued to try to cling to him. With his hands holding onto his arms, Hiccup looked at him seriously. “I’ll come up with something. _I promise_. I _can’t_ not figure this out. And you wanna know why?”

And when Jack just looked at him and shook his head, he took a breath and leaned in to press his forehead against the other boy’s.

“Because I’m in love with you, you little shit.”


	16. Chapter 16

Hiccup was looking at him completely seriously, so close he could feel the other teen’s breath across his face. Jack’s eyes were wide, shocked. His expression wavered as he tried to compute what Hiccup had just told him.

“You— _w-what?_ ” When he finally spoke his voice came out little more than a disbelieving squeak.

Intense green eyes closed over and the punk sighed out a harsh breath, licking his lips a little. “I’m in love with you.” He repeated, voice firm but with just a faint, barely audible hint of anxiousness. “And—and shit, I’m sorry it’s taken me this long to…” Shaking his head, he opened his eyes again. “I’m just really fucking sorry, that’s all, I should have been able to tell you sooner but I wasn’t—I didn’t know how I—I wasn’t _sur_ —”

Jack didn’t even wait for him to finish speaking, he flung himself forward, arms coming up over Hiccup’s shoulders, pulling him into another tight hug. Burying his face in the punk’s throat again, he took a shuddering breath, tears rising again—and when he sniffled, Hiccup gave a helpless noise.

“J-Jack, you’re _crying_. I thought you’d be happy—”

“I _am_ happy—I’m _happy!_ ”

Hiccup’s posture softened at that, and he sighed. His arms came up around the other boy again, more gently this time, and he pressed a kiss into the side of Jack’s neck. “Can’t believe I actually fell for a geek like you.” Then a quiet murmur against his ear: “I love you, Frostbite.”

“I—I love you, too.” Jack’s reply was whispered, muffled a little, but a moment later he released Hiccup to step back a bit. Swallowing thickly, he lifted his hands, one to pull his glasses off and the other to wipe at his eyes. Then he replaced the glasses, pushing them up his nose, and sniffed softly again. “But,” His voice came out with a bit of a croak. “My Dad…”

One of Hiccup’s arms raised, a hand coming to rest against the side of Jack’s face. His thumb traced Jack’s cheek. “Yeah.”

They were both quiet for a little while, then, before Jack spoke again: “He’s my Dad, you know? I can’t…” Chewing on his lower lip a bit, he looked down. “I’ve never seen him so angry before.” His voice still wavered, but at least he had managed to fight down the actual tears. “I’m not a rebel. I can’t—I can’t go against him.” And then his words dropped to a barely-audible whisper: “but I can’t _stop seeing you_ , either. I can’t—it’d— _it’d kill me_.”

“Jack…” Hiccup let his hand slide around to the back of Jack’s head and tugged a little, pulling the other boy back against himself, tucking him into his chest. He kissed just above the other teen’s temple when Jack leaned his head down quietly. “We’ll think of something, I fucking _promise you_.”

“B-but—”

“Okay, look,” The brunet huffed a sigh, breath stirring white hair lightly. “For now, we can at least be together at school.”

Jack jumped at that, lifting his head again to look at Hiccup in surprise. “But—y-you don’t want people to see us together!”

Green eyes blinked back at him slowly. Hiccup’s lips lifted in a crooked half-smile. “I’m not completely… I’m a little uncomfortable with it.” He admitted, but shrugged with one shoulder, fingers stroking through Jack’s hair. “But shit, Jack, if it’s the only way I can see you I’ll just goddamn _deal with it_.” And then, softly, “but what about you? You said before you weren’t ready to be out…”

Jack took a bit to consider that. He looked down, eyes drifting to the ground and the toes of his shoes as he thought, and Hiccup just continued playing with his hair absently.

Was he okay with coming out? He had been afraid of other people finding out he was gay for so long that the idea of being honest about it was more than a little scary. Then again, it wasn’t as if he had any real friends, either. The only one that he was close to was Hiccup, and _he_ obviously had no problem with Jack’s sexual preferences.

In his old school, if he’d come out the bullying probably would have increased tenfold. At Berk High he wasn’t being picked on yet—but would it start to happen if everyone knew he was gay?

“Jack? If… if you’re not okay with it—”

He swallowed nervously, brows drawing together and looked back up. “It’s just, I—” Breaking off, he shifted, eyes flitting downward again. “At my old school,” He began, “I wasn’t—I mean, I got picked on a lot. Bullied and beat up. And no one there even knew I was gay, they were just bullying me for being—you know— _me_. Kids… I mean, _not_ like you, but… _kind of_ like you? The tough kids. That’s why, when you first approached me…”

Hiccup made a soft sound, sad understanding glimmering in his eyes. The hand in Jack’s hair paused, then slid down to rest at the base of the other boy’s neck, and he leaned in to kiss gently over his forehead. “Shit, I’m sorry.”

“You didn’t do anything.” Jack shrugged, hands fiddling with the edge of his sweater-vest a bit. His voice was just a whisper now. “But here at Berk, I… no one notices me, and I don’t get picked on. I’m just—I mean—what if it starts to happen here, too, once everyone knows?”

The response he got was quick, with no time for second thought: “it won’t.”

“But—you can’t know that!”

Hiccup’s mouth tilted, a half-smirk lifting his lips. “I know.”

“But _how?_ ”

“Look, dumbass,” The punk said, voice firm and leaving no room for doubt, “do you _really_ think I wouldn’t beat the _living shit_ out of anyone who even _thought_ about going after you?”

Jack’s head lifted at that and he blinked at the brunet.

That was true… wasn’t it? After all, Hiccup had done it before, weeks ago at that rugby game, and that was back before they even really knew each other. And if he cared about him that much, he wouldn’t just let people beat him up. Jack might not make any new friends, if he came out, but he likely wouldn’t get picked on much. No one went up against Hiccup Haddock willingly, after all, not even the football players—or the others on the rugby team, for that matter.

And any minute worry he’d had before about North finding out was moot now. His father knew and that fact wouldn’t change. Besides, despite how angry he had been, North had told him definitively that it wasn’t because he was gay.

Still, if he came out, it wasn’t something he could take back if anything went wrong.

Jack chewed at his lip, worrying it between his teeth. Then he swallowed and licked his lips nervously.

“Okay.”

Hiccup smiled a little, studying him for a moment, then leaned to kiss him gently. “Are you sure?”

A deep breath and Jack returned the smile. “Yeah. I—I’d rather chance getting picked on some than not be able to see you.” A tip of his head, then, and he had to ask: “but you… what happens—I mean—if everyone here knows… what if it gets back to your _Dad…?_ ”

That made the brunet pause. He tensed, jaw tightening—then relaxed again, sighing, the sound defeated. “I guess I’ll have to take that chance.”

“You guess?”

“Yeah, I guess.” Hiccup chuckled, then reached out, hands settling on Jack’s hips, to draw the other teen over again. Once Jack was close, he lifted his hands to rest against Hiccup’s chest, and the punk gave him a fond look, then leaned to kiss him. “Unless you wanna just pack your shit and run away with me.”

His teasing tone made Jack laugh. “What, you want to join the circus or something?”

“I could get more piercings and tattoos and be in the freak show. You could just stand around and charge people to see you being _goddamn fucking adorable_ all day long.”

“I don’t think anyone would pay to see that.”

“I would.” Hiccup chuckled and kissed him again, gently. “But seriously.” His eyes searched Jack’s, looking for assurance. “I won’t let anything happen to you, I promise.”

“Mn… I know.” The white-haired boy smiled again, then stepped back, one hand reaching to take hold of Hiccup’s, and looked toward the door. He swallowed, fingers tightening around Hiccup’s, and took a bit of a breath. “So… are we going to do this?”

Outside, the halls were still crowded, full of students getting ready for classes to begin.

Hiccup followed Jack’s gaze to the door and squeezed the other teen’s hand. “Yeah. Let’s go.”


	17. Chapter 17

The other students in the hallway were bustling around, rattling in their lockers, chatting loudly, laughing, generally enjoying their morning as they got ready for the first bell to ring.

All of that stopped the minute Jack and Hiccup stepped out into the corridor. They were still holding hands. Jack was looking down, face flushed in embarrassment, nervous and worried. Hiccup kept his head up and set his jaw, green eyes looking around them, challenging and defiant.

When everyone’s attention focused in on them, he simply tightened his hand in Jack’s. A current of surprise jolted through the crowd around them—and then the talking began again, just quiet murmurs and whispers that made Jack’s stomach twist into a tight knot. He lowered his head even more, his free hand coming up to pull at the edge of his shirt anxiously.

“Hey,” Hiccup’s voice made him glance up hesitantly. The other teen shot him a little smile, just the corner of his mouth lifting slightly, trying to be reassuring. “It’s okay.”

Jack’s own lips twitched into a very brief smile in return before he looked down again, afraid to see the reactions of the people around him. “Y-yeah.”

The rest of the day wasn’t easy.

Hiccup walked with him to his first class, but then had to leave for his own. Jack sat in silence for the entire period, eyes on his desk but more than aware of the stares he was getting from everyone else.

When that period ended, he hurried to his second class—this one he shared with Hiccup, so it wasn’t quite as bad. At least he didn’t feel completely alone the entire time he was there, though the whispers and gossip increased tenfold when the lessons ended and Hiccup made a point of giving his hand a goodbye squeeze on the way past as they headed off to their next classes.

By lunch time Jack just wanted to crawl under a rock and hide. He was dreading going to the cafeteria, but made his way there anyway, his backpack hiked up on one shoulder and his steps quick, head down.

Once there he hurried over to his corner and sat down with his back to the rest of the room. After a minute he sighed out a shaky breath, leaned until his forehead was pressed to the cold tabletop, and brought his arms up to cover his head. Hopefully no one would notice him there if he stayed quiet and didn’t make eye contact.

But a few minutes later, footsteps approached. The chair next to him pulled out with a screech against the scuffed linoleum floor and Jack’s entire body tensed, shoulders hunching a little more and hands tightening behind his head.

“Jack.”

Hiccup’s voice. Jack slowly lowered his arms and looked up a little—then relaxed some when his eyes lit on the other boy, who had seated himself next to him, set his lunch on the table and tossed his backpack on the floor by his feet. He tilted his head at Jack slightly.

“You doing okay?”

Jack shifted, looked down for a second, then back up again. He shrugged a bit. “I’m just… everyone keeps _staring_ , you know? They won’t stop.” Then a frown and he chanced a quick glance across the room toward Hiccup’s usual table. All of the other boy’s friends and teammates sat there, too, and now they were all staring just like the rest of the room. “Shouldn’t you be sitting over there?”

“Like I was going to leave you alone today.” Hiccup rolled his eyes and waved a hand.

Blue eyes blinked at that—and then Jack smiled again, just slightly. “Thanks.”

Lunch hour passed a little more comfortably with Hiccup next to him and Jack managed to eat his food without being harassed or feeling as if he was going to throw up. Unfortunately, it couldn’t last forever, and he soon found himself back in classes with eyes boring into him from all sides for the rest of the day.

After school he had to go home right away—he was still grounded, of course—though he considered stopping by the rugby field quickly anyway. In the end he decided against it, anxious to just get out of there and hide out in his room for the rest of the afternoon. Hopefully, North wouldn’t feel it necessary to have any little talks quite yet, even though Jack knew they were coming any time.

The next day Hiccup came to school with a bruising cut above his eye and a split lip. He winced, the expression barely visible, when he pulled his textbooks out of his locker, a tell-tale sign of pain in his left side.

When Jack asked him about it he just shrugged it off and muttered something about ‘assholes’ and ‘after practice’ before changing the subject. Jack gave him a worried look but didn’t push the issue. At lunch time he noted that at least three of the other rugby players were sporting new bruises too, though.

The next time he saw any of the players was right before his last class of the day when two of them cornered him in the hallway outside the classroom.

Jack, swallowing hard and holding his books up in front of himself defensively, backed up until his shoulders hit the lockers behind him. Jolting at the contact, he looked back before quickly returning his attention to the boys—one in front of him and one to his right.

“You little shit, we’ve got a bone to pick with you!”

“What the _hell_ did you do?!”

“N-nothing!” Jack shook his head, voice catching in his throat. “I—I—”

“Like fucking hell you didn’t do anything!”

“You show up here and Haddock starts acting weird and now—”

“ _And now what?_ ” A hand slammed into the lockers by Jack’s left side, making him jump, and he turned to look at Hiccup quickly, a mixture of surprise and relief all across his face. Hiccup, meanwhile, just turned a scathing glare on his teammates. “I _thought_ we settled this shit last _night!_ ” And then an even darker look, and he added, “I told you, if you’ve got a problem, come find me. You even _touch_ him and I’ll _kick your fucking teeth in!_ ”

They both looked like they wanted to say something more, and Jack winced, automatically trying to press farther back into the lockers. Hiccup just shifted his body slightly to make it easier to get in front of Jack in case things went bad.

It thankfully didn’t. Eventually the stand-off ended with the two other boys glaring and stalking off down the hall—and there was a collective sigh as everyone around them seemed to let go of a held breath. Jack took a shaky breath of his own, then chewed on his lip and looked at Hiccup.

The punk stayed where he was for another moment, scowling off down the corridor, then let his hand drop from where he had smacked it into the lockers, shaking it out and wincing slightly. He’d connected with the metal possibly a little harder than he’d originally intended.

“Sorry about that.” The brunet muttered, “I thought I dealt with them after practice yesterday. Guess they didn’t get the hint.”

“I—ah—I’m okay, though.”

“Good.” Hiccup ran a hand through his hair—then glared around them for a second until the remaining onlookers decided it would be a good idea to go on their way. When Jack’s eyes turned downward, though, Hiccup quickly reached to tilt his chin up—and then, before the white-haired boy could protest, leaned in and kissed him, despite the crowded hallway. “I told you I’d make sure you were alright.”

The words were lost on Jack, who just flushed scarlet and yelped out an embarrassed “ _Hiccup!_ ”

“Heh.” The punk let his mouth tilt in a grin and gave him a gentle shove. “Come on, let’s get to class.”

That was that for the rest of the day.

They quickly established a routine of meeting up before school, in between classes and at lunch time. Part of it was to make sure no one bothered Jack, but as time passed the threats and dirty looks lessened, diminished until they were few and far between. Then they met up just for the sake of spending time together.

Jack felt bad about hiding things from North again, but there wasn’t much else they could do, since he still wasn’t supposed to be seeing Hiccup at all. He did refrain from going to rugby practices, though, even after he was no longer grounded, and Hiccup didn’t climb in his window at night anymore, despite how much they both still wished he could.

It was hard not being able to be alone together; not being able to get a proper kiss or touch from the other teen. Jack was finding he missed it more and more every day.

Still, it was definitely nice to at least have the company around school, particularly during lunch. He didn’t need to hide himself in a book anymore and pray not to be noticed. He could sit and have an actual conversation instead.

“So your Dad still hadn’t heard anything?”

“No. Or at least he hasn’t said anything.” Hiccup had his elbow on the table and his chin in his hand, watching Jack fiddle with his apple, twisting off the stem. “And trust me, shit, if he’d heard he’d definitely have had something to say about it.”

“I’ll take your word for—uh—”

Jack looked up from his lunch in time to see someone approach—he recognised the kid as one of the other rugby players. Not one who had given them trouble in the past, but he still shifted and tensed, nervous.

But the guy just walked over, stood there for a second, and then dropped into a chair across from them and set his own lunch tray down on the table. Hiccup looked at him for a moment, then simply nodded—and the other guy nodded back and followed that up by turning his attention to his lunch, beginning to eat without a word.

Jack stared blankly, completely taken aback. He had no idea how to react to this development.

“Uhhhh… Hiccup…?” His voice came out unsure.

Hiccup just shrugged with one shoulder. “Jack, this is Aster. Aster, Jack.”

“I—uh—nice to meet you—I guess…?”

Aster looked up again, chewing on a carrot stick. When he spoke it was with a decidedly Australian accent. “Pleasure, mate. So you’re Hiccup’s boyfriend, yeah?”

“I’m—wait—I’m _what?_ ” Jack’s face flushed and his glasses slid down his nose. It was the first time anyone—including he or Hiccup—had actually used that word to describe them (out loud, anyway.) He really wasn’t sure how to take it.

Hiccup gave a snort of laughter and reached to push his glasses up. Then he flicked his fingers at Jack’s nose teasingly. “Well what the hell else would you call it, dumbass?”

When Aster joined in the laughter, Jack just flustered even more. “Okay, okay, I’m—I’m your boyfriend!”

Amused, Hiccup grinned, then turned his attention to Aster once more, leaving Jack to rub at his red cheeks in embarrassment. “Yo, Aster, what’s the deal, anyway?”

The other teen shrugged. “Got tired of listening to ‘Lout and Tough’ talk shit about you.” He snapped off another bite of carrot and continued, mouth half-full, “the way I figure it, you’re not doin’ anything that’s hurtin’ anyone, so who the hell cares who you’re goin’ out with?”

“Exactly my fucking point.” Hiccup told him dryly.

“Not that everyone givin’ you two shit all this time seems to have changed anything. The two of you just keep mooning over each other every chance you get.” Aster glanced between them and then gestured toward Jack a little. “Y’know, Snowball, you’re probably about the last person I’d’ve expected Hiccup to hook up with. No offense, mate.”

Jack fidgeted a little. “Uh… yeah. No, I know. I—ah—I kind of feel the same way.”

“I told you before, Frosty, you can’t help how you feel.” Hiccup just shrugged. “You fall for who you fall for.” Then a little half-smile. “And I fell for _you_ , so you might as well get used to it already, you goddamn nitwit.”

Another flush of red and Jack bit his lip, then returned the smile with one of his own. “Y-yeah, I know.”

“Ugh,” Aster spoke up again, rolling his eyes. “You two’re gonna make me puke, I just know it already.”

“Look, Bunny, no one asked you to sit with us, so no fucking complaining.”

“I told you not to call me that, Haddock.”

“I’ve been calling you that for years—”

“And you know I hate it, you little shit, so—”

Their good-natured bickering continued for a while, friendly and full of teasing humor. Jack just listened to the conversation, tentatively adding his own two cents every now and then when he actually had something to contribute.

It was really strange for him to have company for lunch like this—for him to be sitting with friends. And it was nice, he found, the companionship, even if he was a little awkward about it at the moment. Hopefully that would improve over time as he became more comfortable with everything.

And maybe, he decided, he was kind of glad he had decided it was alright to come out, after all.


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Minor NSFW in this chapter.

Three weeks into having made their relationship official at school found life becoming infinitely easier for both of them. The other students rarely bothered Jack anymore, even when Hiccup wasn’t around, and the formerly-necessary grandstanding had declined to being pretty much nonexistent.

Aster continued to sit with them at lunch, and a few days after he had appeared he was joined by two of Hiccup’s other friends, a blonde girl named Astrid and a fiery redhead called Merida. The next day another boy from the rugby team, Nod, sat with them as well.

Up to six people, their table was becoming increasingly lively, and Jack, though at first a little awkward about it, slowly began to adjust and relax, even beginning to enjoy himself. The idea that he was actually making friends now was kind of a foreign one to Jack, particularly considering they were all jocks and tough kids.

But outside of Berk High things were the same: Jack was still forbidden to see Hiccup, and Hiccup’s father wasn’t even aware Jack existed. Because of this they had never even made it out on a second date, despite the length of time they had been together.

Their relationship continued to be strange and off-beat, even though it’s wasn’t a _complete_ secret anymore.

It was a Friday when Hiccup caught him just outside of the cafeteria before he could actually go inside. Jack was surprised when the brunet just grabbed his hand and tugged him along, away from the lunch room. He was even more surprised when, a few minutes later, they ended up in a back corner of the currently-empty library.

“Hiccup, why are we…?”

“Just—shut up, okay?” Hiccup grabbed his backpack and dropped it out of the way, then reached to grasp his arms and pulled him into a kiss. A moment later he sighed against Jack’s lips. “We’ve only got forty-five minutes, here.”

“F-forty-five minutes for _what—?_ ”

The answer he received was another kiss and Hiccup pushing him back against the wall behind him. Jack made a soft sound when his shoulders connected with the painted brick but didn’t complain because—really—the kissing was nice and, though he had never said as much, he had really missed it.

Sighing, he leaned back into the cool cement, hands coming up, one to rest at Hiccup’s chest and the other to hold at the side of the other teen’s neck—and Hiccup’s palms slid down his sides to rest at his hips lightly, then drifted around to the small of his back.

“Hic—ah—” Jack still muttered a quiet protest a moment later when Hiccup tilted his head to kiss along his throat. “J-just remember no marks… o-okay?”

“Mmh.” Hiccup agreed absently—and when his teeth grazed along Jack’s jaw then, it was done gently. Then he simply moved back up to catch his boyfriend’s lips with his own again.

It had been a long while since they had had the opportunity to be alone like this, but still the kisses started off light, gentle and intimate, quiet reassurance that yes, they were friendly in public, but they were most definitely much, much more than _just_ _friends_. The soft feel of Hiccup’s mouth against his had Jack sighing, his eyes closed and lashes fluttering.

A few minutes of that, though, and the brunet pressed a little closer, tilting his head and kissing him deeper, more firmly, his tongue sliding forward to explore boldly—Jack accepted it with nothing more than a quiet, pleased murmur and the sliding of his arms, up to wrap around Hiccup’s neck . One hand came up to thread into auburn hair.

There was silence in the otherwise empty library, broken only by soft sighs and unintelligible murmurs from the two boys—and then, after a while, quiet groans and panted breaths when Hiccup’s hands began to wander, up Jack’s back and back down before dipping under the edge of his shirt to rub along heated skin.

The touches made Jack shiver and gasp against the other teen’s lips, particularly when one hand slid around to trace across his abdomen and the other clutched at his back and then skimmed down—and fingers brushed over the curve of his rear before squeezing, the action mindless and heated.

“Nn—Hiccup—”

“Sorry.”

The other teen muttered an apology but this time his hand didn’t retreat, just stayed where it was, and Jack didn’t actually protest it. Instead he pulled Hiccup closer and let his head tilt back as he sucked in a handful of deep breaths—then swallowed a soft moan when Hiccup took the opportunity to attack his neck, lips and tongue trailing down over his adam’s apple to the hollow at the base of his throat even as his other hand moved up to Jack’s ribs, the white-haired boy’s shirt pulling upward along with the movement.

When Hiccup leaned in to lick along his jaw and bite at his ear lightly, Jack groaned. When the punk shifted around until he could push a knee in between his legs, Jack tensed… then relaxed again a split second later, the fingers tangled in Hiccup’s hair tightening, pulling him up for another series of heated kisses before he broke away again, panting.

Hiccup’s leg bumping up against his crotch abruptly brought attention to the fact that he was half-hard. And Jack barely had the time to register the new sensation before the other boy rocked his hips, rubbing—and Jack shuddered, his grip on Hiccup tightening the slightest bit.

“H-Hiccup…! A-ah, w-wait—” His head still back, he gasped for air, then slid his hands around to brace against Hiccup’s shoulders and push lightly. “H-hang on a second, I—just—come on, s-stop—”

The brunet’s movements halted at that and there was a long pause as they both panted to catch their breath, Jack’s fingers curled into his shoulders and Hiccup’s hands slowly sliding around to rest against the other boy’s hips again, leaving tingling skin in their wake.

“Fuck.” Hiccup swallowed hard, face still buried by Jack’s throat, and took a shaky breath. “Sorry, I—shit, I didn’t mean to—”

Jack shook his head. “It—its’ okay, I just…” Trailing off, he bit his lip, head falling back against the wall behind him. It wasn’t that he’d actually wanted to _stop_ , necessarily, but… “J-just… not—not _here_.”

Hiccup was silent for a long moment as he just digested that. Then he licked his lips and huffed a soft frustrated noise before pushing back, hands braced on either side of Jack’s shoulders to look at him seriously. “Goddamn it, Frostbite, do you even know what you’re saying?”

Face still flushed red, Jack continued to pant softly until he had managed to catch his breath a little more, then shifted, whining at the uncomfortable tightness in his pants. The movement pulled Hiccup’s attention to the situation and he slid his own knee out from between the other boy’s legs.

Forcing himself to take another deep breath, Hiccup pressed a kiss to the base of Jack’s throat again. “Tell me what you want, then.”

Jack’s fingers tightened in his boyfriend’s shoulders. “I—I want…”

“You want…?” Hiccup prompted.

A whine and the white-haired boy let his arms fall down by his sides. “ _Hiccup!_ ”

“Heh,” That earned him an amused smirk and a light nip against his jaw. “Okay, look. There’s no one else in here, Jack…” Lowering a hand to the other teen’s hip again, he rubbed there gently and had to take a bit of a breath before continuing, “so if you want me to take care of that shit for you, just say so.”

The offer made Jack flush scarlet and dig his teeth into his lower lip again. “I… I…”

“Jack?”

A pause, then, softly, embarrassed: “…y-yeah…”

“You’re sure?”

Again: “…yeah.”

Hiccup’s lips twitched into an amused smile. “Okay then.”

The rest of lunch hour was more than just a blur, heated touches and a skilled hand shoved down his pants making his thoughts go fuzzy and his mind melt into a jumbled mix of need and want, pleasure and, finally, release, Hiccup whispering soft, embarrassingly lewd things into his ear the entire time.

And then when it was over (possibly faster than Jack would have liked to admit), Hiccup just kissed him gently, smiled against his lips and murmured that he loved him.

When Jack sputtered something to the effect of ‘but what about _you?_ ’, the punk simply let his mouth quirk and shook his head, despite the obvious tent in his own jeans, then simply started tugging the other boy’s clothes back into place, doing up buttons and zippers with practiced efficiency. Soon enough Jack was looking presentable again, if a little flushed, blue eyes bright and glossy behind his glasses and ears red around the edges.

Once he was ready, Jack pushed away from the wall again, and when Hiccup gave him a fond look he glanced down, flustered and embarrassed, and let his hands fiddle with the edge of his shirt a bit.

“I… I, uh… I mean… I don’t know—I don’t really know what to say… I mean…”

“Fuck me, you really are cute.”

“S-so you keep saying.”

Hiccup chuckled, arms sliding around him again, and leaned to kiss him lightly. “Come on, lunch is almost over.”

Jack nodded mutely, fingers threading in with Hiccup’s when the other boy took hold of his hand, then followed him out of the secluded corner they had been in, across the room to step into the hallway beyond. Unable to help it, Jack ducked his head, face flushing red once more.

He had been slowly getting to the point of being able to walk around the school with his head up—but considering what had just happened, he couldn’t help being embarrassed, despite the fact that no one else knew what had just been going on.

“You know, the more you act like shit just went down the more attention you’re gonna get.”

“I can’t help it!” Jack glanced up at Hiccup, his voice a low hiss, “it’s not like anything like this has ever happened to me before, okay?”

Hiccup couldn’t help snickering at that. “You _do_ know everyone here already assumes I’m screwing you, right?”

“They—wait, _what?_ ”

The punk shrugged one shoulder slightly. “That rumour’s been going around for a while.”

“Why didn’t you _tell me?_ ” The words came out little more than a squeak.

“Wouldn’t have changed sweet fuck all.”

He had a point. Jack’s eyes returned to the floor and his shoulders slumped a bit.

“My Dad’s going to kill me if it ever gets back to him.”

“We’ll just have to make sure it doesn’t.”

“Yeah…”

“Hey, Jack?”

“M-mn?”

Hiccup tugged him to a stop by his locker and squeezed his hand lightly before letting go.

“See you in biology.”


	19. Chapter 19

Before he had transferred schools, Jack had loved weekends. They had been a welcome respite from school, where he was picked on and tormented mercilessly. Now, though, he found that they were his least favourite part of the week—because every Friday afternoon he had to say goodbye to Hiccup and trudge home to spend two entire days without even so much as a glimpse of the other boy.

Friday nights themselves weren’t usually so bad, though, it was Saturday and Sunday that sucked. This week especially, Jack was content to just go to his room when he got home, work on homework, and think over the events of the day. Because after what had happened at lunch time in the library… well.

Seated at his desk, Jack was trying to concentrate on a math problem, but his mind kept drifting: he had let Hiccup touch him. Not the way he normally did, either. Not just drifting hands to his back, his sides, his hips. No, he had let Hiccup actually _touch him_ —get him _off_ —and more than that, he had _asked him to do it_.

Jack’s face heated at the thought and he lifted a hand to scrub the back of it against one red cheek, willing the colour to fade. His other hand clenched a little, fingers tightening around the pen he was holding.

Not that he regretted it or anything. He had no reason to: Hiccup had been good about it, gentle and accommodating, though he had definitely let his words wander, whispering the most positively wicked things the entire time. And it wasn’t like the other boy had put any pressure on him. In the end Hiccup himself had even walked away completely unfulfilled.

Swallowing a little, Jack tried to focus his eyes on the papers in front of him with little success.

Just thinking about it…

Uttering a soft groan, he let his head fall down until his forehead thumped against his notebook and squirmed as he willed his body to stop being stupid and calm the hell down. Jack was severely unused to being so bothered over another person. It was really embarrassing.

At least there was no one else around to see him finally cave in and give up on homework in favour of other pastimes.

The next day being Saturday, he didn’t have to get up early and ended up rolling out of bed around ten in the morning. After taking his time getting ready and dressed for the day, he then wandered downstairs for breakfast—at which point he found North sitting at the table with a cup of coffee and the newspaper. The paper was quickly discarded when Jack came into the room, and his father watched him cross to the fridge and pull out the milk before clearing his throat.

“Jack,” He began, and Jack hesitated as he was digging out the cereal because his tone was unusually serious. “I would like to talk to you.”

Jack finished pouring his cereal, retrieved a spoon, and moved over to take a seat across the table from his father. He pushed the spoon into his breakfast, stirring it nervously. “Uh… okay. About… what?”

“Well first of all,” North waved a hand slightly, “it’s been nearly a month now, and I’m happy with how you’ve been behaving. So you’re no longer grounded.”

Blue eyes blinked and Jack’s eyebrows rose. “Oh. Good. Um, thanks.”

His father nodded, then pursed his lips a little. It was obvious he was thinking about how to proceed with the rest of what he wanted to say, which meant it was probably something serious. Jack poked at his cereal again before taking a tentative bite.

“So, you’re gay then, are you?”

The teen nearly spewed his breakfast all over the dining room table. Instead he made a strangled noise and just barely managed to choke it down, then lifted a hand to his throat and swallowed a few more times. His other hand, holding the spoon, shifted a little, the metal clinking against the edge of the ceramic bowl.

It took him a moment before he could croak out a response. “Y… yeah.”

“Mm.” North made a contemplative sound, frowning slightly. “Are you sure?”

Jack fidgeted. “Uh, yeah… pretty sure, Dad.”

“I see.”

Fiddling with his spoon some more, Jack looked down. When he spoke again his words were tinged with embarrassment. “You’re not disappointed, are you?”

There was a long pause, then, “only in your choice of men, Jack. Your sexual orientation itself doesn’t bother me.”

That made Jack frown, and he lifted his eyes again. “Dad!”

“I know, Jack, you were in love with him, or at least you thought you were, but—”

“I still _am_ , Dad!” The white-haired boy shook his head, brows drawing together. “D-do you really think I could just—you can’t just _get over_ someone you love like that!”

“Jack, you’re seventeen, how can you possibly know—”

“ _I just_ know _, okay!_ ” Anger bubbled up inside him and Jack finally dropped his spoon and shoved the bowl away from himself. Swallowing thickly, he took a slow breath. “It—it’s not like I _meant_ to fall in love with him, you know! It just—it _happened_ , and… and…”

North shook his head. “Jack…”

“Why can’t you just _try_ to _understand?_ ” He wasn’t above pleading.

His father was quiet for another long minute, then sighed softly. When Jack looked over at him again, his eyes were sympathetic, almost sad. “I do understand. But you have to try to understand, too, that I don’t mean to hurt you by keeping you away from that boy. I’m doing it for your own good.”

“ _For my own good?_ It—Dad, it _does_ hurt, though! It hurts when I’m not with him! It—it _physically hurts!_ ” Jack’s hands tightened against the tabletop and he swallowed hard again. “I’ve never… I’ve never felt like this about anyone. He’s _everything_. I—you know I love you, Dad, but—Hiccup is different, he…” His eyes dropped back to the table for a second before lifting again, and his voice lowered to a whisper. “He’s in love with me, too. And… and I…”

North just regarded him silently, contemplatively. Jack looked down again, gritting his teeth a little as he waited for his father to say something more—and completely dreading being told, once again, that he wasn’t to see Hiccup, no matter what.

If North still forbid him contact with Hiccup—well, things would stay the same, wouldn’t they? They would only see each other during school, never in the evenings, never on the weekends, never during school holidays. And that would go on at least until they graduated the following spring.

Finally his father just shook his head and murmured softly, “no, Jack.”

“Dad, please.” He tried once more. “ _Please_.”

But North’s response was the same as every other time, a quiet ‘no’, though this time it was tinged with regret, as if he knew how much heartache he was causing his son. Jack’s lips tightened into a wavering line and he blinked harshly against tears, then shoved away from the table and stood.

Eyes down, he left quickly, closing himself back up in his bedroom once more, shutting the door firmly. This time he didn’t break down, though, just uttered a pained, frustrated noise and flopped down on his bed.

A minute later he sat up again, though, and moved across the room to pluck his phone from the desk and type out a text message.

_[sent] Hey, are you up?_

It took a little while for Hiccup to respond, and Jack went about his business organizing and tidying his room while he waited. He always did that sort of thing when he was bored, or irritated, and now was no different.

Eventually, though, his cell buzzed a response: _[rec] Am now. Need something?_

Jack hesitated for only a breath before punching at the buttons again.

_[sent] Come over tonight._

_[rec] That’s not a good idea, you know._

_[sent] I just need to get out of here for a while._

_[rec] You’re gonna climb out the window?_

_[rec] Seriously?_

_[rec] Look at you being all rebellious._

_[sent] Shut up._

_[rec] Your Dad is gonna murder me if he finds out._

_[sent] Is that a no?_

Another long pause, then: _[rec] I’ll be there at 11._

Jack had to crack a smile at that.

Now he just had to find something to do for the next eleven hours.


	20. Chapter 20

When Hiccup showed up a few minutes after eleven o’clock, Jack had the interesting task of figuring out how to climb down the lattice from his window to the ground. He had never really thought about it before, even when Hiccup had been climbing up almost every night. And it wasn’t like he was the most coordinated person in the world.

Getting out the window itself was relatively easy, as was closing said window up behind himself—and he even managed to make it mostly to the ground without any real issues. Three feet from the bottom, though, he slipped—and landed on his butt on the ground a second later. He stifled a yelp and instead just winced.

Hiccup snickered and helped him to his feet with a grin. “Alright, Mr. Rebel, how ‘bout we keep your feet on the ground for the rest of the night?”

Deciding that that sounded like a good idea, Jack just nodded as he brushed off his clothes. Glancing back up at the window, he straightened his sweater absently, a pang of guilt in his stomach at the thought that he was, once again, blatantly going against his father’s wishes.

“Come on,” Hiccup’s hand slid into his and squeezed gently. “I parked around the block.”

Once they were out on the sidewalk, a bit away from his house, Jack sighed heavily. “I got in another argument with Dad about you. And I just… I wanted to see you. So thanks for coming.”

Hiccup just shook his head. “Like I’d ever turn you down if you asked me to show up.”

Jack supposed that was true. Hiccup always seemed to do anything he asked for, anything he needed, was willing to give him anything he wanted. It was baffling and embarrassing at times—but then again, wouldn’t he do anything for Hiccup, too? Maybe that was just part of being in love with someone.

It was all still new to him, though. He was still trying to get used to having someone be so seemingly devoted to him—to the feeling of actually being that special to another human being. Just the thought made him blush darkly, flustering and fiddling with the edge of his sleeve with his free hand.

“You’re being stupid, you know.”

Jack blinked and looked toward Hiccup. “I—what?”

“This is stupid of you.” Hiccup repeated. His eyes stayed forward, but faint worry tinged his words, barely even noticeable. “If your Dad finds out you snuck out… Christ, he’ll flip his shit, right?”

“Yeah, but…” Jack shrugged one shoulder. “He’s already telling me I can’t see you, and there’s not really anything else he can do that’s worse than that…”

“You’re gonna end up grounded until we fucking _graduate_ at this rate.”

Another shrug. It wasn’t like being grounded did much to him, anyway. He didn’t even really have a social life outside of Hiccup and the conversations with the other kids at his lunch table. The only thing that changed for him was that he didn’t watch the rugby practices after school—and while he did kind of miss seeing Hiccup play, he didn’t miss the crowds at all, so it wasn’t a _completely_ negative thing.

“Hey,” A shoulder bumped into his, bringing him out of his thoughts, and Hiccup pulled him to a stop next to his motorbike, then let go of his hand to nick one of the helmets. He handed it to Jack and then retrieved his own. “You know the drill, Frosty.”

“Where are we even going?”

“Nod’s throwing a party tonight. His parents are out of town or whatever. Thought we might as well stop by.”

Jack liked Nod. The other boy was friendly and funny, always cracking jokes. He was a little egotistical, too, but not so much that it made him obnoxious. It was more just another personality quirk of his.

The idea of going to a party, though, made him a little nervous. There would be a lot of people there, and if it was a party thrown by one of Berk High’s students it would likely be packed with kids from there. It wouldn’t be the same as going to the club had been, where no one had known them and everything had been blessedly anonymous.

When he hesitated, Hiccup reached to ruffle his hair and leaned in to press a kiss over his bangs. “It’ll be fine.”

“Yeah… if you say so.”

Hiccup just grinned and pulled his own helmet on. His voice came out muffled through the visor when he spoke again: “Just like at the club. You sure as hell enjoyed yourself there, right?”

Jack flushed and busied himself with taking off his glasses, tucking them into his pocket and then jamming the helmet in his hands onto his head, adjusting it so that it was comfortable. Remembering how he’d completely lost himself at the club was still embarrassing even now.

“Anyway, the others’ll be there too, Aster and Astrid and Merida.” His boyfriend continued as he climbed on the bike and waited for Jack to join him. “And we might as well have some goddamn _fun_ while you’re being all rebellious like this.”

Jack resigned himself to going to the party in question and clambered onto the motorcycle behind Hiccup, settling himself and wrapping his arms around the other boy’s waist. It was unspoken, but they both also knew that if he started to panic once they got there they would simply leave again. Hiccup wouldn’t force him to stay if he didn’t want to: he never forced him to do anything.

This time on the bike was a little less nerve-wracking than the last. Jack didn’t feel like he was constantly about to fall off, for one thing. Maybe after a few more times riding it he might actually get used to it. He still held particularly tight to Hiccup on the turns, though.

It turned out Nod was rich—and not in an upper-middle-class kind of way. The guy was totally loaded, if his house was anything to judge by: it was located on the edge of town, huge and sprawling with manicured grounds and gardens and a swimming pool in the side yard.

When they parked halfway up the driveway and Jack climbed off of the bike, then pulled his helmet off, he had to take a few breaths to even believe what he was seeing. He had never known anyone who was actually, legitimately wealthy before.

“So, uh, Nod’s family is rich, I take it.”

“Totally fucking loaded.” Hiccup agreed as he hooked both the helmets on his motorcycle and straightened his jacket. He ran a hand through his hair and cast green eyes across their surroundings. “His Dad works with the president or some shit like that.”

Jack blinked. “Wow, I had no idea.”

A shrug from the other teen. “He doesn’t advertise it.”

“Apparently.”

“C’mon, I already told Nod we’d show, so he’s probably wondering where we are.”

Hiccup waved a hand, then pressed a hand to the small of Jack’s back and began steering him up the drive toward the house. Jack moved along willingly enough, only hesitating once they approached the front porch, where several people were milling around. Inside, music was blaring—and Jack had to take a bit of a breath before allowing Hiccup to grab his hand and tug him up the steps and into the house.

Inside the house was pretty much complete chaos. People were everywhere, plastic cups and empty bottles littering practically every surface. A few feet inside the door, when he glanced to the left, a seemingly never-ending pile of pizza boxes were piled all over the counters in the kitchen.

Jack had honestly never felt so out of place before in his _life_.

Letting go of his hand again, Hiccup moved a few feet away to talk to a girl Jack didn’t recognize, the conversation inaudible over the practically deafening music. The white-haired boy shifted a little, unsure, and looked around himself nervously, picking at the edge of his sweater until Hiccup returned to his side.

“Tiana says the guys are out back.”

The punk had to lean in close and speak loudly into his ear to be heard. Jack just nodded without a word, then followed along when Hiccup took his hand again and began weaving through the crowd, heading toward the back of the house, then through a set of double glass doors to the extensive patio beyond.

Out back the music was muffled enough that they could actually hear when someone called out to them:

“Yo, Haddock!” This came from Nod, who waved them over to a table over at the edge of the deck, where he was seated in amongst a handful of other kids—some that Jack recognized and some that he didn’t.

Hiccup released him again, moving across to greet his friends, lifting one hand to bump forearms with Nod, who then turned his attention to Jack. When the white-haired boy didn’t immediately join them, he hurried over to push at Jack’s back, ushering him across the deck swiftly.

“Dude, no reason to be shy. Here, you know Aster and Merida already.” Nod made an encompassing gesture, then pointed to the people Jack had never met before: “that Mavis, that’s Jim, and there’s Violet and Sandy. Guys, this is Jack. He’s cool. He’s Hiccup’s boyfriend.”

There were waves and greetings from everyone, if a few dubious looks when Hiccup made a point of sidling over and slinging an arm around him. Jack flustered a bit, but managed to add quiet, embarrassed hellos of his own, smiling a bit when Aster gave him a little salute. “How’s it goin’, Snowball?”

“Okay, I guess.” Jack fidgeted slightly, then blinked when Mavis—a petite girl with short black hair and matching lipstick—approached and offered drinks to both of them. Hiccup declined, his attention on a conversation he was having with Nod and Jim, and Jack just took the cup tentatively. “Uh—thanks.”

Mavis just gave a friendly grin and returned to where she had been perching on the deck’s railing. “No problem! So you and Hic, huh?”

Blushing even more, Jack’s eyes flitted down and then back to Mavis again. “Um, yeah.”

“That’s _so_ awesome!” She just smiled even more, seeming pleased. “Aster says Hic totally loves you. He says you’re always together at school. He also says it makes him want to puke.” And then she perked and leaned forward with an interested gleam in her eyes; “oh my goodness, did you and Hic _zing?!_ ”

Jack just gave her a blank look. “Did we—wait—what’s a _zing?_ ”

“Oh, jeez,” This came from the girl who’d been introduced as Violet. She shook her head and tucked her hair behind her ear in what was clearly an absent motion. “Don’t get her started on _that!_ ”

“ _Vi_ , I’m not _that_ bad!”

“You totally are and you know it!”

The two girls continued to bicker good-naturedly, distracted for the time being, and Jack looked back down at the drink in his hands, then lifted it to take a sip. He pulled a bit of a face into the cup—he wasn’t used to drinking alcohol—but didn’t say anything.

Hiccup still caught the expression, though, and chuckled, his arm tightening around Jack slightly. “You don’t _have_ to drink it, dumbass.”

“Yeah—uh—I might not.” Jack made another face, settling against Hiccup’s hip comfortably. “Hey, where’s Astrid?”

The brunet shrugged. “Went to pick up Flynn, apparently. They should get here soon.”

“Oh.”

“Anyway, you doing okay?”

“Yeah. It’s not so bad out here. Not as many people.”

“Crowds really freak you out, don’t they?”

“They kind of always have.”

Hiccup made a soft sympathetic noise and tilted his head to kiss against Jack’s hair lightly. This caused Mavis to squeak and kick her legs and generally gush over how cute they were, which, in turn, caused Jack to turn the color of a fire engine, stammer a bit, and then just focus on the drink that he had originally decided against actually consuming.

The others seemed to find all of this highly amusing.

Time seemed to pass a little more comfortably after that as Jack got used to the surroundings, the noise and the conversation around him. He found that he really rather liked Mavis—she was cheerful and friendly and just very nice—and got along decently with everyone else. Eventually, Astrid appeared with another boy, a little older than them, who turned out to be Flynn.

After a while he relaxed enough that Hiccup didn’t feel the need to actually hold onto him anymore. The punk let go of him, but didn’t move far away just in case. Jack ended up seated on a bench nearby with Mavis and the short boy Nod had previously introduced as Sandy, who didn’t say much—Mavis actually did pretty much all of the talking for him.

The conversation was fun, the music was good and the drinks kept coming, and in the end Jack figured that was pretty good.

Unfortunately, he quickly learned that he didn’t have much of a tolerance for alcohol. Before he knew it he was feeling pleasantly numb, laughing more loudly and often than normal—and becoming friendly with people he normally wouldn’t have.

When he ducked into the house to use the bathroom and took a little longer than necessary to return, Hiccup subsequently found him in the kitchen chatting with an older guy who was very clearly hitting on him, even if Jack himself didn’t realize as much. Hiccup had just scowled, strode across the room and shoved the other boy out of the way, then taken Jack’s arm and steered him toward the door.

“Dammit Jack, what the hell do you think you’re doing?”

“Huh?” Confused, Jack simply stumbled along after his boyfriend.

Hiccup just pulled him through the house and out the front door without comment, then spun him around and pushed him against the wall once they were outside. Leaning in, he kissed Jack fiercely for a moment, then drew back just enough to meet his gaze, a faintly possessive gleam in his eyes.

“That guy was hitting on you, idiot.”

“What—I—no way!”

Another kiss, this one a little more gentle: “you’re so goddamn _clueless_ sometimes. I can’t decide if it’s cute or frustrating as hell.”

Still not thinking clearly, Jack shook his head. “We were just talking—”

“Oh for fuck’s sake.” Hiccup rolled his eyes, then pulled him away from the wall again. “Come on, I’m taking you home before someone feels you up and I have to break their face.”

They didn’t bother to go back inside to say goodbye to the others, just headed back to where Hiccup’s motorbike was waiting. Jack fumbled with the helmet a little until Hiccup made a tsking noise and helped him put it on. He privately resolved never to let the white-haired boy touch alcohol again.

Once they got back to Jack’s house they paused under his window to exchange a few kisses, mostly because Jack was feeling apologetic. He was also possibly a little more enthusiastic than usual—but Hiccup broke it off before any hand wandering could begin, instead pulling back and giving the other teen a gentle shove to get him moving.

“Go on, Frostbite. Before your Dad finds you missing.”

It thankfully turned out that climbing _up_ the lattice was easier than climbing _down_ had been, and soon Jack was safely back in his room once more.

Only after his boyfriend had leaned out to wave goodbye and then closed the window did Hiccup sigh, shake his head, and turn to jog back to his bike.


	21. Chapter 21

_[rec] How you feeling?_

_[sent] My head is kind of killing me._

_[rec] Of course it is._

_[sent] I’m never drinking again._

_[rec] Good plan. I don’t wanna have to beat the crap out of people who hit on you at parties, anyway._

_[sent] I told you we were just talking._

_[rec] Bullshit. That guy was trying to get in your pants._

_[sent] Oh, come on._

_[rec] Least he has good taste._

_[sent] What do you mean?_

_[rec] Knows a hot piece of ass when he sees it._

_[sent] …I’m going back to bed, now._

_[sent] Goodnight, Hiccup._

_[rec] Night, Frostbite._

Jack spent most of Sunday sleeping off the minor hangover that was left over from the drinks he had consumed the night before. It wasn’t as bad as the rumours about hangovers would have had him believe, but his head still pounded and it was easier to just stay in bed and wait for the pain to recede.

By Monday morning he was feeling pretty much back to normal, so going to school wasn’t an issue.

It turned out that most of the kids he’d been introduced to during the party went to a different school—but Violet attended Berk and was even in one of Jack’s classes, though she was quiet and he had never noticed her before. They talked a little and he found that they had quite a bit in common—by the time school got out that day he had made another friend and the address book in his phone had grown by one more contact.

Lunch hour continued to be shared with the others he now sat with, with the exception of Thursday when Hiccup dragged him off to the library again for some alone-time instead. Things didn’t get as heated as the previous time had been, but spending the hour together had been nice nonetheless.

Since he wasn’t grounded anymore, Jack was able to start going to the rugby practices and games again. He still sat away from the rest of the onlookers, though, over by the fence as usual. Now he had to huddle in a jacket, since it was nearing the end of November and getting colder out—they would have snow any time—but the chill didn’t keep him away. He had always kind of liked the cold anyway.

On Friday after his practice, Hiccup had, as usual, taken the time to spend a few minutes with Jack before they both had to head home for the weekend. After the crowd dispersed, they sat together on the bleachers and talked for a bit before saying their goodbyes.

“I hate weekends.”

“I think you’re the only person ever in _the history of the fucking world_ to say that, Frostbite.”

“Yeah, well,” Jack shrugged. He had his arms crossed against the crisp temperature and was leaning forward a little. He looked up at Hiccup and pursed his lips, then muttered with some embarrassment, “I don’t like not seeing you.”

Hiccup’s mouth tilted in a lopsided smirk. “Sorry, I didn’t catch that? Say it a little louder?”

Flushing slightly, Jack looked away again. “Hmph.”

A laugh and the brunet lifted one hand to ruffle his hair, then leaned to kiss against his jaw, just below his ear. “You know I hate this shit, too, Jack.”

“I know…”

Jack sighed and leaned forward a touch more, rubbing at his arms absently. With how clear his father had made his stance on their relationship—which wasn’t even supposed to exist—they couldn’t do much about how things currently were.

Hiccup watched him for a moment, then offered, “hey, you want my jacket?”

“Huh?” Surprised, Jack blinked—then shook his head. “No, it’s okay… I need to get going, anyway.”

Standing, he hopped down from the bleachers, then turned to pick his backpack up. Hiccup followed him, hands tucked into his coat pockets. He looked Jack over for a moment, then reached to grab hold of the other teen’s arm, pulling him closer and leaning in for a kiss.

Pulling back a moment later, he sighed, breath fogging in the autumn air. He was quiet. Then green eyes closed over and he murmured softly, “I miss you when I can’t see you every day.” The admission was barely audible—not something he would normally say—and it made Jack’s face flush. Hiccup just frowned slightly and looked away.

Jack quickly lifted a hand, gripping Hiccup’s hair gently and tugging until he looked back at him—then tilted his head and kissed his boyfriend again before whispering “I know. I miss you, too.”

Hiccup just gave a faint smile at that before sighing again and giving Jack a gentle push. “You have to go, remember?”

“Yeah, yeah…”

The white-haired boy resigned himself to the next two days without seeing Hiccup and headed home.

The rest of that night was spent doing homework, cleaning his room and generally trying to avoid conversations with North, who, for some reason, was getting very interested in his activities outside of school. Jack had to explain to him several times that yes, he was still going to his D&D club and book club, yes, he had actually made a couple of friends, and yes, he was staying away from ‘that boy’—the last, of course, was a complete but necessary lie.

By ten o’clock that evening he was out of things to do and decided to watch a movie. He had gone downstairs, chosen a DVD at random, and was back in his room, putting the movie on when his phone buzzed.

Jack immediately abandoned what he had been doing to answer it.

_[rec] Open the window._

_[sent] ???_

_[rec] Just open it, dumbass._

Blue eyes flew to the window.

Hiccup waved a hand at him through the glass, then gestured emphatically at the lock.

There was a long pause there, Jack just trying to figure out _what_ his boyfriend thought he was _doing_ —and then he dropped his cell to hurry over and yank the window open. Hiccup just waited until he stepped aside and climbed into the room, turning to ease the window closed again with a quiet click.

“What are you _doing here?_ ” Jack’s words came out a panicked whisper and he looked over at the door quickly. It remained closed, and after a moment of silence, with no footsteps coming up the stairs, it became clear that North hadn’t heard anything. Jack let out a relieved sigh.

“I just wanted to see you. Is that a problem?” Hiccup’s reply was just as quiet and he headed across the room to finish turning on the movie that Jack had originally intended to watch. The sound would help to muffle their voices.

“If Dad catches us—”

“He’ll fucking kill me, I know.” With the movie started and the volume turned up a little, the punk moved back across to Jack, lifting a hand to grasp the other boy’s chin and giving him a quick kiss.

“And ground me for the rest of my life.” Jack grumped softly.

Hiccup just looked at him—then shrugged and turned around as if he were making for the window again. He was stopped two steps later when Jack’s hand grabbed at the back of his jacket and pulled. A smirk tilted at his lips and he glanced back over his shoulder.

Jack shifted and looked down. “Stay.”

“Heh.” A chuckle and Hiccup spun around, lifting a hand to rest against Jack’s head in the familiar, fond gesture they were both now used to.

“You’re a jerk.” Jack mumbled, “but don’t go.”

The hand against his head stroked through white hair before sliding down to Jack’s shoulder, then trailing along his arm. Then fingers tugged at him, and a moment later Hiccup was tugging him over to the bed and pushing him down before stripping his jacket off and tossing it on the floor.

There was a bit of shuffling while they both settled, Hiccup between Jack and the wall and Jack tucked into his side. A platinum-topped head came to rest over his shoulder and the other boy’s hand traced absent patterns in the front of his shirt. In turn, Hiccup’s fingers stroked through Jack’s hair gently, the motion soothing.

They didn’t say anything for a while, and that was nice. Jack had never known what it was like to be so comfortable with another person, before. It was still different to him, still new and breathtaking—it still made his heart flutter when Hiccup was like this with him, especially considering how he was with other people.

“So, I’ve been thinking.”

When Hiccup finally broke the silence, his voice was soft. The fingers in Jack’s hair paused momentarily before picking up the gentle strokes again. Jack just closed his eyes and made a quiet questioning sound in his throat.

“I’m going to talk to your Dad.”

 _That_ caught Jack’s attention. His eyes flitted back open and he lifted his head quickly, looking up at Hiccup. “I—I don’t know if that’s—”

Hiccup shook his head, lifting his other hand to rest it against the side of Jack’s face. His thumb traced along pale skin lightly. “When’s your birthday, Jack?”

“Wh-what?”

“Your birthday.”

“July…?”

A faint smile. “So it’ll be _months_ until you’re eighteen. Until then, you have to do whatever your Dad goddamn tells you to, right?” His smile faded then and his voice lowered to a murmur; “do you really want to wait that long until we can be together properly?”

Jack’s brows drew together and he shook his head. “No, but…”

“So I have to talk to him.” Hiccup concluded. He smiled again, then, and tugged Jack up for a gentle kiss. “I have to at least fucking _try_ , right?”

A nervous swallow and Jack finally nodded. “I—I guess…”

“And hell, Jack,” The brunet angled his head for another kiss. “The worst that happens is he kicks me out again.”

It was true—even if North refused to listen, the only thing that would happen would be that nothing would change. They would still have to sneak around until Jack was old enough to just tell his father to stuff it. Not that he would ever put it that particular way, of course.

Sighing shakily, Jack tightened his hand in the front of Hiccup’s shirt again. “O-okay.” And then, “w-wait, you don’t mean _now_ , right? If he knew you snuck in—”

Hiccup laughed at that, rolling his eyes. “Of course not, you dumb shit.”

Jack made a face at him before returning his head to his boyfriend’s shoulder again with a soft sigh. Hiccup’s arms settled around him and they fell into comfortable silence once more, just enjoying each other’s warmth and listening to the movie play in the background.

Neither of them realized they were drifting off until it was too late and they were already deep asleep.


	22. Chapter 22

At five twenty-seven in the morning, Jack and Hiccup were still asleep, curled up together, facing each other with Jack pressed into the other teen’s chest and his head tucked under Hiccup’s chin. It was warm and comfortable for both of them. And that comfort was interrupted when North knocked on the door.

“Jack? Turn your lights off and go to sleep already.”

The sound of his father’s voice dragged Jack back to wakefulness slowly and a slight frown pulled at his lips. “Mmh…”

Another knock, though, and he half-jerked just as he had been drifting off again. Sleep-fogged and confused, Jack attempted to roll over to face the door—but was stopped by arms around him. His movements stuttered and he looked up at Hiccup almost blankly for a moment.

“Jack?” North’s voice called from the hallway, and was followed by some muttering that Jack couldn’t quite make out. His father was probably trying to decide if he should just come in and turn the light off himself or not.

The sound of North calling his name again made Jack snap back to wakefulness abruptly, though. His eyes widened hugely and he whipped his head around, looking back over his shoulder toward the door, then gripped his hands in the front of Hiccup’s shirt and shook the other boy.

“Hiccup!” He hissed frantically, and then, when Hiccup just mumbled something incoherent in his sleep: “wake up!”

Hiccup’s arms tightened around him slightly—but then he cracked his eyes open and peered down at his boyfriend in confusion. “Jack…? The fuck, man…?”

Jack opened his mouth to reply, but was interrupted by yet another knock on his door, louder this time, and North calling out his name once more. The foggy look in Hiccup’s eyes cleared immediately and he jerked his gaze upward, over Jack’s head toward the door.

“Oh, _shit_.”

He let go of Jack like he was holding onto a piece of hot coal—and Jack didn’t protest, instead just rolling over so fast he fell off the bed and landed on the floor with a dull thud. Wincing, he scrambled up to his feet as quickly as possible, and Hiccup was doing the same, clambering out of the bed to snatch his jacket from the ground.

“Jack, what was that sound? I’m coming in—”

“No, Dad, it’s fine I just fell—”

Jack floundered for the window, yanking it open, and Hiccup hurried after him—and he was just swinging one leg over the sill to clamber out when the door swung open and North came into the room.

_Oh God, not again._

North’s eyes lit on Hiccup and his face contorted in anger. Before Hiccup could finish scrambling out the window, North was across the room and grabbing onto his arm, hauling him back in. Hiccup yelped and stumbled, but North was already dragging him across the room and out into the hallway with Jack scrambling after them.

With his hand still clamped on the punk’s arm, North pulled him down the staircase to the entryway, but rather than just throwing him out of the house, he stopped there, his grip on Hiccup tightening sharply.

“I thought I made it clear that you are to _stay away from my son_.”

“ _Dad!_ ” Jack’s voice was high and frantic.

This time, though, North turned a furious glare on him as well. “Jack, I am through with this! If you keep this up, so help me, I’ll have to get you transferred back to your old school again!”

The white-haired boy shook his head, his heart leaping to his throat. “No—no, Dad, come on—”

But North’s attention returned to Hiccup again, his eyes narrowing in anger. “Stay. Away. From. Jack.”

Last time Hiccup hadn’t protested, but this time was different. His own expression darkened and he returned North’s glare with one of his own. “I can’t do that, sir.”

For just a split second, North showed surprise—but then he began glowering again. His hand tightened on Hiccup’s arm, making the brunet wince slightly. “You listen to me, _boy_ —”

“I can’t do it because it would hurt him!” Hiccup’s voice was dark and serious, his words snapped, “and I don’t want to do that!”

A few feet away, Jack shook his head helplessly, his breath short as he began to panic. Then, before his father could even open his mouth to respond to Hiccup’s words, he took the handful of steps over and shoved in between them—then lifted his hands to push North back.

Head down and eyes on the ground, Jack held himself tense, arms still up and his hands braced against his father’s chest. In his shock, North released his grip on Hiccup who, behind Jack now, sucked in a sharp breath.

After a moment of silence, Jack pulled his hands back against his own chest, shaking slightly, but didn’t lift his eyes. He had never done something like that before—had no idea what to do now, or how North would react once the surprise wore off.

When North’s mouth opened a second later, Jack flinched and Hiccup moved quickly, out from behind the other boy and across to the front door, dragging Jack along with him. But his father didn’t actually say anything, just stood there as the brunet pulled the door open and exited the house, taking Jack with him.

Hiccup rounded on him the second the door was closed again. He was frowning deeply, but still lifted his arms and pulled Jack into a hug, letting the other boy sag against him with a shuddering breath. “He’s your Dad, you dumb shit, you shouldn’t have done that!”

“I know, but—”

“Dammit, Jack!”

It was too late, now. He’d done something stupid and there was nothing he could do to take it back or change things. Jack felt his heart speed up, his breath coming fast and catching in his throat—he let his head come down until his forehead pressed to Hiccup’s shoulder, trying to fight down the panic that was starting to overtake him.

“Oh, shit—Jack—fuck, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean—”

Jack just shook his head, trembling now, and gasped for air.

“No, no, no—shit! C’mon, you’re okay, you’re alright—”

When Jack’s knees started to give out a moment later, Hiccup had no choice but to lower him down onto the porch. The brunet went with him, still holding him tightly but completely at a loss for what else to do, and just sat there for a handful of minutes, rubbing Jack’s back and muttering soft reassurances and curses under his breath.

Jack just continued to shake and hyperventilate until Hiccup, frantic now, decided he had no other choice and leaned back, letting go of Jack with one arm to pound his fist against the door behind them, banging loud enough that it probably disturbed the entire neighbourhood.

When the door was finally yanked open, he lost his balance and half-fell back, just barely managing to catch himself in time. When he looked up, North was glaring down at him—but that expression changed quickly as he took stock of the situation: Jack clinging to Hiccup tightly, gasping in short, panicked breaths of air and obviously shaking—and North’s lips compressed into a thin line as worry flitted across his face, anger forgotten for the time being.

Without a word, he stooped down and helped to pull Jack to his feet. It was an interesting feat, considering his son refused to let go of Hiccup even to stand, but eventually both boys were up and between Hiccup and North they managed to get Jack back inside.

The silence was tense, but at least they had something to focus on besides the animosity between them.

It went unspoken that they would try to get Jack up to his bedroom, but actually doing so took a few minutes. Eventually, though, they succeeded, and Hiccup even managed to get Jack to let go of him long enough to sit him down on the bed.

The other boy hunched there, shoulders shaking, but still reached up to grab hold of Hiccup again, unwilling to chance letting him leave. Hiccup, meanwhile, let one hand come to rest against mussed white hair, his fingers stroking gently and his eyes down, watching Jack worriedly.

Over in the doorway, North surveyed the two of them quietly.

It was obvious that Jack was more than serious about Hiccup. And the other boy seemed to care for Jack as well. But that didn’t mean his mind was changed about the situation. Being around Hiccup was changing Jack—and not necessarily for the better. He was becoming disobedient, argumentative, he was cutting classes and failing tests.

Finally North frowned and cleared his throat.

Across the room, Jack didn’t seem to notice, but Hiccup lifted his head and looked back over his shoulder, expression unreadable.

North looked right back at him, serious and unwavering, but didn’t snap. Instead his words came out with finality, leaving no room for argument: “For Jack’s sake, you can stay for now. But in the morning, you will leave and not come back. Am I clear?”

And Hiccup just pressed his lips together, then nodded shortly.

“Crystal.”


	23. Chapter 23

North eventually left them alone, but had made it clear that the bedroom door was to remain wide open. Over the next hour or so, Hiccup eventually managed to get Jack to calm down, until they were both seated on the bed, Hiccup leaning against the headboard and Jack cuddled into his side with the blankets pulled up around them both.

At around seven o’clock, Jack fell asleep, still holding onto him tightly. Hiccup stayed where he was for as long as he could, not wanting to disturb him, not wanting to walk away and _leave him_ —but eventually he had no choice.

When North’s footsteps came up the stairs again and the man stopped in the doorway, Hiccup closed his eyes for a moment, then tilted his head to press a gentle kiss against Jack’s hair and carefully slid out from the other boy’s grasp. With North’s eyes following his every movement, he settled Jack down against the mattress, then tugged the blankets around him again—and leaned over, fingers stroking through white hair, to kiss his cheek lightly.

“I’ve gotta go, Frosty.” And then, softly, barely audible: “I’m sorry.”

Jack made a quiet, negative noise in his sleep, brows furrowing for a moment, and Hiccup took a shaky breath, smoothing at his hair carefully once more before turning to leave.

North saw him all the way to the door and closed it firmly behind him.

When Jack woke up a few hours later and Hiccup was gone, he had to fight down immediate tears—and then again a short time after that when his father came into his room and told him how it was.

He was grounded again, of course, permitted to go to school and nowhere else. When he was at home he was to remain in his room with his window closed and his door open, except to come down for meals. He wasn’t allowed to use the computer other than for homework—no Internet—and his video games and television were confiscated until further notice. His cell phone was also taken away this time.

But, more importantly, he was forbidden to see Hiccup: he wasn’t even permitted to interact with the other boy in school, and North was determined to speak with Berk High’s administration to make sure it stayed that way.

No amount of desperate arguing would change his mind about this, either. Jack tried—without success—for most of the afternoon, only to be told that if he refused to abide by the new rules then North would have no choice but to have him transferred back to his old school again.

And the idea of that—of going back to the hell he had lived through for three years, of leaving behind the friends he had finally made at Berk, of not even being able to physically _see_ Hiccup anymore, even if he couldn’t actually talk to him or interact with him—the very thought was intolerably painful.

In the end Jack had had no choice but to agree with his father’s terms and begin his sentence that very minute.

Just two days later, Jack was back at school and never so glad to be there. Trying to pass the time over the weekend with literally nothing to do had been more than just hard. At least at school he had classes and friends to keep him busy—and he could see Hiccup.

But the other boy was acting strangely, even before the principal called them both into the office during second period to tell them that Jack’s father had contacted her with concerns over his son’s relationship with the school’s local troublemaker. They were given a warning that they were to go their separate ways, not permitted to hang out together on school grounds anymore.

Jack hadn’t thought North would actually go this far—and the shock forced tears to his eyes again, though he managed to swallow them down this time, forcing them away as the principal explained the situation.

It was only later, when they were leaving the office, and Hiccup refused to meet his eyes, just squeezed his hand gently and turned to head back to class, that he broke down and cried.

Lunch hour that day was hard. Hiccup didn’t say a word to him, just ate his lunch in silence, and Jack did the same, picking at his food without much of an appetite. The others at their table took note, but didn’t ask what was going on, which they were both privately thankful for.

It wasn’t until classes were out for the day that Hiccup approached him at his locker and broke the silence between them.

“Jack?”

Surprised, Jack jumped a little and whirled to face the other teen, dropping his books in the process. He hurried to pick them up again, then shoved them into his locker quickly, even as Hiccup reached out to rest a hand against his arm lightly.

“Can we talk?”

"I—I don’t know, I have to get home, my Dad—” But Hiccup’s expression was serious, and Jack broke off, then swallowed and looked down, eyes moving to the floor. “Yeah. Okay.”

There were another few moments when they didn’t speak, then, as they made their way across the school to the library. They didn’t hold hands, didn’t look at one another, just walked quietly, Jack with his gaze on the floor and Hiccup looking lost in thought.

Once they reached their destination, Hiccup lead him to the isolated back corner—where they always went when they wanted to be alone.

And Jack knew something was seriously wrong a breath later, when the punk closed his eyes, then took a breath and lifted his head to look him at him, gaze firm but full of obvious internal pain.

“I’m… I’m breaking up with you.”

Jack froze. “Wh… what?”

“Jack, look, it’s…” Hiccup’s lips compressed into a thin line and he forced himself to look away again. His voice came out rough when he spoke again. “It’s not working out. Trying to deal with you and your Dad is just… it’s not worth it. It’s too much of a pain in the ass.”

“Hiccup, you’re—you’re not serious—tell me you’re kidding!”

The other boy still refused to look at him, but his jaw tightened and he blinked harshly a few times, then clenched his hands into fists at his sides. “I’m—I mean it, Jack. What’s the point in dealing with all this shit if I’m not even getting anything out of it?”

A flinch, and Jack took a half-step back. “B-but you said…”

Hiccup made a tsking sound. “Come on, Jack, did you really think…” He trailed off a bit, then swallowed and continued, words forced, “I mean, Christ, I’ve put up with all your emotional bullshit, and everything with your Dad, and—and you don’t even put out? It’s pointless. I mean, come on.”

One shaking hand lifted and reached toward Hiccup—but the brunet just stepped out of reach, shaking his head. Jack pulled his hand back against his own chest, gripping at his shirt. His head fell forward and his shoulders hunched. He squeezed his eyes tightly shut, but found himself unable to keep the tears at bay this time.

He knew what Hiccup was doing, of course. There was little to no real conviction to his words, despite how he was trying to sound.

“H-Hiccup, you don’t—please don’t do this!”

“Look, Jack, like I said—”

“I know you don’t mean it!”

“ _Jack._ ” Hiccup made a soft frustrated noise, and turned back around—just in time for Jack to collide with him, arms coming up around him and holding onto him tightly. Bringing his own hands up, he tried to push Jack back, but the other boy refused to let go. Finally his voice softened and his fingers tightened at Jack’s shoulders slightly. “Jack, please… don’t make this harder than—than it has to be.”

Jack just shook his head. “Don’t do this!”

“I have to. Your Dad—”

“I don’t care about him!” The white-haired boy all but sobbed, hands clutching hard at the back of Hiccup’s shirt. He buried his face in the crook of the other teen’s neck, tears falling freely now. “You promised we’d figure something out! Just—please!”

Whatever Hiccup might have said in reply died in his throat and he closed his eyes, taking a steadying breath, then gently pushed Jack away. This time the other boy moved back, hands sliding around until his fingers caught in the front of Hiccup’s shirt instead.

“Jack, I’m sorry.”

“Hiccup, don’t—”

Hiccup just shook his head again, then leaned forward to press a gentle, regretful kiss against Jack’s forehead. “I’m so sorry.”

“Please—”

“But it’s over.”


	24. Chapter 24

When Jack finally made it home on Monday afternoon, his father was waiting for him in the living room, obviously annoyed—he worked from home most days, so he knew when Jack was late, and having just grounded him again two days prior, his patience was definitely being tested.

North had been ready for another argument. When he heard Jack come into the house he stood and headed to the entry way—but Jack just looked at him, eyes red and expression unreadable, tinged at the edges with pain.

“Jack—”

“You don’t have to worry anymore,” Jack’s voice came out soft and surprisingly flat, almost completely emotionless: “Hiccup broke up with me.” And then he turned and headed up the stairs, leaving North to look after him. “I’m going to my room. Let me know when dinner’s ready.”

His walk up the steps was slow and deliberate and his door closed with a soft click. North had told him before that he had to keep his bedroom door open from now on—but now he didn’t say anything, just moved his gaze to the floor and then returned to the living room without a word.

Upstairs, Jack dropped his backpack next to his desk, ignoring the way it banged loudly on the floor, then stood there for a long moment, eyes focused on nothing in particular and hands hanging limply at his sides.

When he moved a few breaths later it was to bring a hand up and grab at the edge of the desk as he began to tremble once more, breath shortening and then shuddering into silent, dry sobs. The hand not clutching at the desk lifted to grip in the front of his own shirt, right over the hollow, aching feeling in his chest.

Hiccup had started off trying to be intentionally hurtful—trying to make Jack hate him—but in the end he hadn’t been able to keep it up. He had apologized, over and over and over, but in the end… he had still broken up with him. He had still ended it, despite the promises he had made in the past.

And it hurt so much more than Jack ever could have imagined.

After Hiccup had left him in the library he had cried for a long time—most of the reason why he had been so late getting home—but eventually the tears had subsided into a painful numbness, like pins-and-needles in his heart.

Now Jack didn’t think he could cry again: even though he kept regressing into broken sobs, no actual tears fell anymore.

Eventually, he managed to let go of the desk and make his way over to the bed, where he collapsed into the mattress, pulled his knees up to his chest, and closed his eyes tightly.

He had told his father to call him for dinner, but later that night when North _did_ Jack didn’t bother to go down, and North didn’t push the issue. Jack stayed in his bed for the rest of the night, silent, didn’t bother to do his homework, and eventually, thankfully, managed to fall asleep.

His life quickly descended into something approximating torture after that.

Every day he was forced to get up and go to school, though all he really wanted to do was sleep all the time.

Before, Jack had looked forward to his time spent at Berk, because that was where Hiccup was. Now, it hurt just to look at the building. He spent all of his time there with his head down and his eyes on the ground, afraid of seeing his former-boyfriend and the reaction it might cause in him.

The classes that they shared were a nightmare of heartache, and it didn’t seem to get better with time. Lunch hours were spent, at first, sitting in the cafeteria at a table by himself again, and then, later, when it became too hard for him, in the art room. He rarely ate lunch anymore, anyway.

Jack’s one saving grace was Violet.

A week-and-a-half into the breakup she had stumbled upon him going into the art classroom at the beginning of lunch and followed him inside. After that, she started keeping him company each lunch period, which Jack really found himself appreciating, considering she was abandoning her other friends and her usual table in the cafeteria to do so.

“You don’t look so good, Jack.”

Jack just shrugged a little, his eyes on the sandwich he was holding but had yet to take a bite of.

Violet just gave him a sad look. “Come on, Jack, you’ve got to eat something.”

He hadn’t been eating almost anything lately—pretty much just what North had been able to force into him at home. He threw his lunches out almost every day without having touched them at all, just so that his father would assume he was at least eating those. That seemed to placate North to a certain extent.

Violet, however, was there every day watching him not eat his lunch, and was starting to get worried. Jack rarely talked anymore, didn’t make eye contact with almost anyone, and now he was starting to lose weight, looking thin and somehow even paler than normal.

Now she watched him get up to throw his lunch in the trash bin and shook her head, brows drawing together in worry.

“How long has it been, Jack?”

Dull blue eyes lifted to her and he moved back over to sit down again. One hand came up to adjust his glasses absently. “Since what?”

“Since you and Hiccup talked.”

Jack physically flinched at that, and his eyes dropped back to his lap again. “Three weeks on Monday.”

Violet’s response was laced with sympathy, “you should talk to him. I’m sure he misses you, too.”

But Jack shook his head swiftly. His hands tightened into fists, then loosened again a moment later. His voice came out a whisper. “I can’t. We’re not… we’re not together anymore, Vi.”

“But—”

“If I talk to him, I…” He trailed off a little, then swallowed hard. “It’s hard enough already. I just can’t.”

There was a few seconds of silence, then Violet gave a frustrated sigh. “I can’t believe you two! You’re like _meant_ to be together! Yeah, okay, so some people didn’t approve, but _everyone_ could see how happy you were!”

“Vi, come on…” Jack twisted at the edge of his shirt anxiously. Talking about it made the constant ache in his chest even worse. “Hiccup didn’t… he was looking out for me.” Tears bit at his eyes and his voice wavered, breaking slightly. “I know that. So… it’s—it’s not so… bad…”

“Are you kidding me?” Violet gestured toward him, shaking her head, then lifted a hand to tuck her hair behind her ear when it fell across her vision. “Jack, you’re not eating, I bet you’re not sleeping right—you look like death warmed over! And I _know_ you’re not doing your homework, you told me your grades are down!”

‘Down’ was an understatement: they had plummeted from A’s and B’s to D’s and F’s practically overnight. It was just another bone of contention between Jack and his father, now—not that he cared. He didn’t care about much of _anything_ , anymore.

“Just—” Sighing, Violet reached to squeeze one of his hands gently. “I’m sorry for bringing this up, okay? But it’s obvious you still love him and I hate seeing you miserable like this.” And then she offered a small smile: “and I know Hic’s feeling the same as you. He wouldn’t say it, but it’s obvious if you know him.”

Jack bit his lip at that, shoulders hunching slightly—but the bell signifying the end of lunch hour thankfully saved him from having to respond.

The next few days passed the same as the previous weeks. The cold autumn air gave way to even colder winter, the snow finally arriving, late this year and making up for it in volume. They ended up with five-foot snow banks practically overnight.

Normally, Jack liked the snow, but this year he barely noticed it.

The last week of classes before Christmas break was somehow even harder—the school decorated every hallway and classroom in cheerful red and green, ribbons and wreaths and garlands—and the excitement that all the other students were buzzing with just made Jack all the more aware of how much his own existence sucked.

Still, he was at least looking forward to the holidays and not having to avoid Hiccup constantly at Berk. He could just lock himself up in his room for two weeks and pretend the rest of the world didn’t exist.

_I’m tired._

Between his first class, Geography, and his second, English, was always the hardest, because English class was the first one of the day that he had to share with Hiccup. He always spent a lot of time procrastinating at his locker before heading down the hall to that particular room, and today was no exception.

He fiddled with his books, rearranged his backpack and generally dragged his feet until the warning bell rang, at which point he had no choice but to shuffle off to English, gaze down as always.

Halfway down the corridor, though, he had to stop again when a sudden wave of dizziness overtook him. Shaking his head, he lifted a hand to his temple and closed his eyes for a moment, breathing deeply.

When his equilibrium seemed to return to normal he started walking again—

And that was when his knees abruptly buckled, sending him crashing to the floor.

He landed hard, knocking the wind out of himself—and when he tried to roll onto his knees to push himself up and climb to his feet a moment later, his limbs wouldn’t work through the thick fog that was quickly overtaking his mind.

Jack blinked blearily up at the ceiling, confused and dizzy as onlookers began to crowd around him, their murmurs and chatter nothing but a distant, buzzing static in his ears.

One voice stood out, though.

“Jack!”

The last thing Jack saw before he passed out entirely was Hiccup shoving his way through the crowd toward him.


	25. Chapter 25

“Do you think he’ll care if I eat his jello?”

“I dunno.”

“I like jello.”

“Maybe you should ask.”

“But he never eats his jello!”

“Duh, because he isn’t even awake yet!”

“…it’s been three days. I’m totally eating his jello.”

“I think we need to talk about your badness level.”

“Yum, strawberry! You want some?”

“…yeah.”

The first thing Jack became aware of when he finally woke was unfamiliar voices coming from somewhere to the right of the bed he was in. He tried to turn his head toward whoever was talking, but the effort proved to be too much for him, and his eyes seemed to be pasted shut anyway.

Swallowing thickly, he worked his tongue through the dry, cottony feeling in his mouth. When blue eyes finally managed to crack open, he squinted up at the white-tiled ceiling in confusion. The light hurt his eyes, so he closed them again with a little pained groan.

“Hey, I think he’s waking up!”

“Well go get your sister, stupid!”

“I’m going, I’m going!”

Pattering footsteps hurried out of the room, and someone shuffled closer to his bed. Jack forced his eyes open again—just in time for a head to lean into his vision. At least the shadow blocked out some of the light, and Jack managed to work up enough strength to lift one hand and rub at his eyes a little.

“Hey, you’re totally alive!”

“I am…?”

“For sure!”

Jack could barely recall anything. He had been at school, right? On his way to class… and then he vaguely remembered the feeling of falling, and the far-off sound of Hiccup’s voice. But he had probably been imagining that part.

The hand at his eyes lowered a little and he narrowed his eyes, studying the IV that was hooked into his hand—and that was when he realized he was probably in the hospital.

“Hellooooooo~?”

Turning his attention to the person who was still leaning over him, he blinked a few times at the huge eyes that were peering down at him. They belonged to a little girl, maybe twelve years old, tops, with her black hair pulled back in a ponytail and littered with a plethora of candy-themed barrettes and pins. She was wearing a hospital gown, which just served as proof as to where he was.

She was holding a jello cup and a spoon, but seemed to have forgotten about them for the moment.

“Wow, you’ve been out for days, mister!”

Jack swallowed again, shaking his head slightly—then stopped when just that little movement made him dizzy. “What happened…?”

“How should I know?” She shrugged, then leaned back and when Jack looked to the side she had dropped down into a chair next to his bed. She began eating the jello, slurping it down with a happy smile on her face. “All I know is you’ve been here for three days and this room has all the good TV channels. And they kept bringing you food even though you were unconscious.”

Jack watched her silently for a moment, then finally asked, “who are you?”

“’Name’s Vanellope.” She looked back up at him long enough to flash a toothy grin, “nice to finally meet ya, Jack!”

“How do you know my name…?”

A shrug. “I read your chart. Doi.”

“Oh.”

Well, she was honest, he could give her that much. Still, he couldn’t think of anything else to say, and instead turned his head back to look at the ceiling for another moment before closing his eyes again. He was exhausted, his eyes and head hurt, and the now-familiar, painful ache in his chest was still there.

Before he could fall asleep again, though, hurried footsteps came in from the hallway. Jack cracked his eyes open again, looking over as a woman in a nurse’s uniform approached, a pleased smile on her face. Another little girl, this one with black hair, a dark complexion and a Hawaiian-themed dress on, trailed along behind her. She looked like she was probably related to the nurse in some way.

“Ah, Mr. Frost, it’s good to see you awake finally!” The nurse greeted him cheerfully, already bustling about the room, checking the various monitors that were attached to him and then retrieving a blood pressure cuff from the opposite wall. “We were starting to worry about you.”

She was putting the cuff on his arm and inflating it when the second girl leaned over the bed to watch. “Lilo, come on, stay out of the way.” And then, a little frustrated noise and she added, “why are you and Vanellope even in here, huh? You know better! You should play in the lounge!”

“The lounge doesn’t have Cartoon Network.” Lilo pointed out, only to receive a _look_.

“Or Animal Planet!” Vanellope piped up.

The nurse just rolled her eyes and shoed them both out of the room before continuing on with her examination.

Over the next few hours, Jack learned a lot of things.

The nurse in charge of his care was called Nani, and yes, the little girl, Lilo, was her little sister. Lilo came to work with her sometimes because it was the best way to keep her out of (serious) trouble, though she sometimes got into mischief with Vanellope anyway. Still, they were generally pretty well behaved.

For her part, Vanellope was a long-term on-again off-again patient in the children’s ward. She suffered with a serious seizure disorder that was proving hard to control with medication. Despite spending most of her life in the hospital, she was still cheerful and optimistic about her life.

The two of them had taken to hanging out in his room as an alternative to the play room or public lounge shortly before he had arrived—and had just kept using it as their private clubhouse even after he had been admitted. Jack supposed he could have had worse roommates, all things considered.

As for himself…

He had passed out cold at school, and had been there, unconscious, for three days. Medically, he was suffering from exhaustion and malnutrition. Shortly, he hadn’t been eating enough for his body to keep functioning. An hour after Nani left, a doctor had come in and even asked him seriously if he had an eating disorder—they were concerned he was Anorexic. Jack had vehemently denied it, but didn’t supply a satisfactory reason for having borderline-starved himself, so they set up a series of appointments for him with a hospital therapist over the next few days.

In the meantime, he had been hooked up to an IV that was pumping nutrients directly into his starving body. They made a point of telling him many, many times how important it was that he eat each and every one of the meals they provided him, too.

Apparently he had had several visitors over the time he had been there: his father, of course, was there for several hours each day. Violet had been by as well, and so had Mavis and Nod, and, based on the descriptions, possibly Aster. And there was someone else, Nani told him—another boy who came by after hours and just stood in the doorway for a few minutes before leaving without a word.

Jack knew exactly who it was, and his heart clenched painfully at the thought.

That night North came by around dinner time and made a point of watching Jack eat his dinner. He could barely sit up—had to be propped up with pillows—and only had to finish a bowl of soup and a handful of crackers, but it still took him the better part of an hour. It was awkward under the close scrutiny of his father.

A couple of hours later North left again, and shortly after that Violet arrived with Mavis in tow. Along with them came a boy Jack had never met before—Lewis—who was apparently a student at Berk and good friends with Violet. He seemed nice enough, though Jack was too tired to make decent conversation.

Later, after visiting hours had ended, Vanellope came by to borrow his television again, and he watched some cartoons with her while she, for some reason, animatedly explained to him who her favorite Nascar drivers were and why. Jack just nodded along, even though he knew less than nothing about racing.

Eventually the night nurses came in to check on him, found Vanellope there, and kicked her out for the evening. It was kind of a relief, though Jack would never have said as much to the girl in question.

As much as he had (for the most part) enjoyed the company over the last few hours, he was thankful to be alone again, and thoroughly exhausted on top of that. It didn’t take long for him to fall asleep again.

When he woke again it was the middle of the night and gentle fingers were running through his hair, smoothing it back from his forehead delicately.

"I’m sorry…"

Jack murmured something unintelligible and opened his eyes slowly, blinking through the sleep-haze—and then froze, breath catching when he finally saw the familiar green eyes that were looking down at him.

“Hey.” Hiccup greeted him softly, with no trace of his usual smile—just a sad, regretful look instead.

Jack found himself unable to say anything. He just swallowed hard and closed his eyes again.

“Mavis called me. She told me you were awake.” The other boy continued, voice quiet. His hand paused, still resting in Jack’s hair. “I’m glad. You had me worried there, Frostbite.”

It hurt. It hurt to even hear his voice. Jack’s chin wavered and he turned his head away, eyes still closed. “You shouldn’t be here.”

“I know.” Hiccup withdrew his hand, lifting it up, and green eyes settled on his own palm for a long moment. “I just… I wanted to make sure you were okay.”

The white-haired boy was already fighting against tears, but managed anyway: “I’ll be fine.”

“Jack—”

“You… you should go.”

“I just—”

“ _Please_. Just _go_.”

It was unfair. It was _unfair_ of Hiccup to do this, after everything. They weren’t together anymore. They weren’t a couple. They weren’t _anything_ , and it hurt so badly Jack thought he would never feel anything but pain _again_. And Hiccup still showed up like this—was still kind to him, still petted his hair and spoke to him in that soft, loving tone of voice that was reserved for him and no one else—and it was _ripping him to pieces inside_.

There was a long, drawn-out pause, and then Hiccup finally moved away, and his footsteps disappeared out the door, echoing down the hallway as he left.

And Jack just turned onto his side, buried his face in one of the hospital-issue pillows, and cried himself to sleep.


	26. Chapter 26

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter contains mentions of suicide.

The next few days were mostly passed with visits to the hospital psychiatrist and playing Mario Kart with Vanellope after she swiped a game console from the play room and brought it with her to hook up in Jack’s room instead. She was perhaps not-so-surprisingly good at the game, given her love of all things racing-related and the amount of time she spent in the hospital.

Jack hated going to the psychiatrist: the man expected him to talk about his feelings, to explain what was going on in his head, and that was the last thing Jack was interested in doing. But the doctor was persistent and eventually Jack just told him what he wanted to hear, only to be rewarded with the assumption that all of his problems were caused by the difficulties of being gay and out at seventeen years old. He didn’t seem to listen when Jack tried to correct this, either. Finally Jack decided that it was easier to just let him believe what he wanted to, and went along with it.

Slowly, over the days he spent at the hospital, he started to feel better—physically, at least. Between being hooked to the ever-present IV and being forced to eat his meals, he was getting stronger—until, a week after waking up there, the doctors decided that Jack was up to going home again.

He was relieved to be leaving, yes, because hospitals weren’t his favourite place in the world, but also a little anxious—because the few visitors he’d had while he had been admitted there probably wouldn’t bother coming to his house to see him, and now school was officially out for Christmas break, so he would be utterly alone for the next couple of weeks.

At the same time… maybe that wasn’t so bad. Everything would just go back to normal, the way things had always been, before he’d had friends—and before he’d met Hiccup. He could try to pretend none of it had ever happened.

Or at least that was the plan. Of course it didn’t work—mostly because even at home, there were reminders of Hiccup everywhere, especially in his room. His stupid room that Hiccup had snuck into more times than he could count, where they had spent so much time together, talking and watching movies, playing video games and making out.

So even once he was away from the hospital and back where he belonged, life just continued on the way it had been doing so for the last month, albeit with quite a bit more food being choked down on his part, as North was being diligent about watching him eat all of every single meal before allowing him to leave the table and retreat back to the solitude of his room.

Over the few days following his release from the hospital, thoughts besides the idea that he didn’t want to eat began to surface—ones that were frightening, made his skin crawl, but were still surprisingly tempting.

The thought that the bottle of sleeping pills in the medicine cabinet was looking a lot more friendly than usual.

The thought that his father’s razor could be taken apart in seconds and the loose blades used just as quickly.

The thought that it would be _easy_ , and then he wouldn’t have to put up with what had become of his life anymore.

Finally, one day found him sitting on the edge of his bed, the bottle of pills in his grasp and a glass of water waiting on the bedside table. He had been staring at the bottle for nearly twenty minutes, turning it over and over in his hands, reading and re-reading the label—until he finally just twisted the cap open and dumped a handful of the pills out into one palm.

And it was right about then that the door to his room swung open unexpectedly.

Jack looked up, startled to see Aster standing in the doorway. “Wh—”

There was a short pause, and then: “ _Jesus_ , Jack, what the _hell_ do you think you’re _doing?!_ ”

Aster was across the room in three seconds flat. He knocked the pills out of Jack’s hand—they scattered across the floor in all directions—then snatched the bottle up as well, pitching it into the opposite corner, where it bounced off the wall and eventually rolled to a stop somewhere under the desk.

Then the other boy whirled on him, and Jack flinched when Aster fisted a hand in the front of his shirt and yanked him to his feet.

“You listen to me, Snowball, and you listen good.” The words were angry, but worry tinged the glare Jack was receiving. “You might think your life is screwed up right now, but if you _ever_ think about doing something like that _again_ …” Trailing off, Aster shook his head, then let go of Jack’s shirt and took a step back, gesturing toward the door at the same time. “You think no one would care if you were gone? What about your _dad_ , huh? What about your _friends?_ Violet and Mavis and the others and, hell, even _me!_ ”

Jack swallowed hard and looked away.

Aster made a frustrated noise, jabbing a finger toward him for emphasis. “What about Haddock, then? What about _him?_ What do you think it would do to him if you _died?_ ”

“H-Hiccup and I aren’t—”

“I know, mate, he broke up with you. And he’s an absolute _moron_ for that. But you’re just as much of one if you think you could kill yourself and he wouldn’t care!” The other boy’s hands came up to grab hold of Jack’s shoulders, and Aster gave him a hard shake. “Wake up, you idiot! Haddock’s still head-over-fucking-heels for you! _All he does anymore_ is pine over you! You think he could just move on with his life if you did something this stupid? If you _died_ —Jack, I don’t think he could take it!”

“It’d be easier if I wasn’t—”

Aster actually smacked him upside the head before he could even finish that one. “Easier for _you_ , maybe, but not for the rest of us! _Definitely_ not for Hiccup! Now, if I ever catch you doing this shit again I’ll kill you!”

Jack shifted from one foot to the other, and when Aster let him go he lifted a hand to push his glasses back into place from where they had been jostled. His eyes drifted to the ground and skipped from one of the fallen pills to another, tracing an abstract pattern along the carpet.

“I—I’m sorry.”

“You bloody well _should be_.”

“I… I just…”

Aster huffed an annoyed-sounding sigh and lifted a hand to rub at his own hair. “Look, I get it, I really do. Things are tough for you right now. But come on, you can’t just give up like that.”

Jack shrugged halfheartedly, then slowly got down to begin picking up the scattered pills. If North came in and saw them he would have a lot of questions and Jack didn’t particularly want to have to answer them. After a moment Aster shook his head and dropped down to help him, not entirely comfortable with the idea of Jack handling the medication at all at the moment.

“Why’re you even here, Aster?”

“Huh? Oh. Uh, one sec.” The other boy sat back on his heels and dug through his jacket pocket, producing a little giftwrapped box. “Vi made you some cookies or chocolates or something, but she’s busy babysitting her brothers so she asked me to bring them by. She says Merry Christmas.”

Blinking slightly, Jack took the package. He had never gotten Christmas gifts from anyone but his father before. “Th-thanks…”

A shrug. “They’re not from me. Call Vi and tell _her_ thanks, if you want to.”

“Yeah, I… I’ll see if Dad will let me.”

“Let you?”

“I’m… still grounded.” Jack looked down a little, then turned to set the Christmas gift on the bedside table. “I’m surprised he even let you in, actually.”

“Good thing he did, too.” Aster commented grimly, still plucking pills up from the ground.

The words made Jack flinch, and he shifted around until he was seated with his back to the bed, drawing his knees up to his chest and wrapping his arms around them. “Yeah.” He muttered, not really meaning it, and leaned his head down, burying his face in his arms. “Good thing.”

A few minutes later, Aster was finished cleaning up the medication, and looked up, expression unreadable. Finally he lifted a hand up to rest it on Jack’s head, and when Jack looked up again, he offered a slight smile.

“Everything will work itself out, yeah? You’ll see.”

No. Jack didn’t see. But still, he nodded anyway, and forced a smile of his own. “Thanks. I’ll… I’ll be alright.”

Aster gave a satisfied nod and pushed to his feet, hands still full of tablets. He hesitated a little, then nodded toward the door. “I’ve gotta go, Snowball. Just… don’t do anything stupid once I’m gone, okay?”

“Okay…”

Still: when Aster left, he took all of the sleeping pills with him.


	27. Chapter 27

Christmas was normally a happy time of year for Jack: he loved winter in general, and North was always enthusiastic about the holidays. They always decorated the house, North going overboard with the ribbons and bells and bows and the silly train set that he insisted on setting up every single year without fail, and even though it was just the two of them, they had fun.

This year was different. North decorated the house himself, right down to the train set. He put up the tree alone. He even baked cookies on his own—which was something he and Jack had done together every single year since Jack had been old enough to stand on a stool at the counter and lift a mixing spoon.

But even though he was eating properly again, North still couldn’t get Jack to do much more than just lay around in his room. He even allowed some of the boy’s friends to visit over the first few days he had been out of the hospital in the hopes it would cheer him up a little. And although Jack had thanked him for that, it hadn’t really helped very much.

North found himself at a loss as to what to do. He had never had to deal with his son being like this before. Even when he had gone to the previous high school—Saint Burgess, on the other side of town—and had been getting picked on and bullied almost every day, he hadn’t fallen into such a deep, serious depression.

It was worrying, and more than a little frightening—and North had to consider that Jack’s hospital stint was probably a pretty serious wake-up call for both of them: for Jack in that he needed to take better care of himself, and for North in that he was finally beginning to understand just _how miserable_ his son was without the boy that he was currently forbidden to see.

Finally, on December twenty-second, after serious consideration, North dug Jack’s cell phone out of the kitchen drawer where he had stashed it, and turned it on to flip through the contacts quickly.

_Hiccup Haddock._

It was easy to find the number—the kid had a pretty memorable name. North paused, just looking at the contact information for a moment. His eyes flitted toward the ceiling, then, and he finally punched the call button.

Two rings in the call was picked up with a hastily gasped _“Jack?!”_

North cleared his throat. “No. This is Jack’s father.”

There was a moment of silence, and then Hiccup asked hesitantly, _“is… did something happen? Is Jack alright?”_

“Jack is fine.” Came North’s reply. He frowned. “I would like to speak with you.”

Another pause, then: _“about what?”_

North sighed. “About Jack. But not over the phone.”

_“Oh…”_

In the end, they both managed to agree to meet at a coffee shop downtown. The conversation was awkward at best, but both of them knew that talking in person would probably be even worse. Still, North had made the decision to have an actual talk with the teen, and Hiccup wasn’t about to say no, all things considered.

Two hours later found Hiccup waiting in the Starbucks across the street from the library, his jacket over the back of his chair and an untouched coffee in front of him. He had ordered the drink more out of habit than anything else, but anxiety was making his stomach twist into knots. His arms were crossed over his chest in a vaguely defensive manner—he had no idea what North wanted to say to him, nor what he was about to be in for.

When North finally arrived, the bell at the front door announced him. Hiccup’s eyes flitted over quickly, and he watched the man look around before his gaze settled and he came across the store, striding toward him with purpose. Hiccup slowly uncrossed his arms, licking his lips nervously: as tough as he was, North could probably crush him with one hand if he really wanted to.

The tall man just looked at him for a long moment, then dragged the chair across from him out and sat down.

Hiccup shifted in his seat.

North frowned a little. “Hiccup, right?”

“Yes, sir.” Came the response, “Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the third.”

“Really?” One dark eyebrow rose.

Hiccup just shrugged uncomfortably, “weird, but it’s a family name. We have Viking heritage.”

“I see.”

There was a long silence then, and Hiccup’s eyes drifted down to the table. He resisted the urge to shift and squirm under North’s close scrutiny. He wondered why he was even there to begin with, considering the man had already made it very clear how he felt about Hiccup—and how he felt about his relationship with Jack.

Finally Hiccup swallowed and managed, “no offense, sir, but why are we here?”

“I told you, I want to talk with you about Jack.”

“Yes, but I don’t know why. I’ve stayed away from him, like you wanted. Even at school. I broke up with him. I don’t see why you would need to talk to me.”

“You know how Jack has been fairing lately, yes?”

“…yes, of course.”

“I want to know why you haven’t tried to contact him.”

“I—what?” Confused, Hiccup shook his head.

North looked at him, surveying, and then made a little terse noise. “Are you in love with my son, Mr. Haddock?”

Hiccup blinked and lifted his eyes. North was staring at him seriously, waiting for his answer—so Hiccup set his jaw and nodded shortly. “Yes, sir, I am.”

“Then why haven’t you tried to come to the house? Why didn’t you visit him in the hospital?”

“I don’t understand—”

“Do you really love him?”

“Of course I fucking love him!” The brunet snapped—then sighed in frustration and forced himself to rein in his temper. “…of course I love him, sir. That’s why I broke up with him. That’s why I haven’t come to the house. You told me to stay away from him, and I am! I’m trying to make things easier on him!” Then a frown, and he hesitated before adding, “but I did go to the hospital. I’m sorry, but I had to make sure he was okay. I _had to_.”

North’s expression actually softened at that, just slightly, and his posture relaxed a little. “I see.”

“I know.” Hiccup continued finally, “I shouldn’t have gone. But it doesn’t matter… he kicked me out, anyway.”

“Did he?”

“Yes.”

North seemed surprised. Then he sighed and lifted a hand to tug on his beard in a thoughtful gesture. “I am concerned for Jack, Mr. Haddock. He’s still not doing well, and I know it is because I have forced him to stop seeing you.”

“Well, no offense, but I’m not taking this shit very well, either.” Indeed, he hadn’t been sleeping properly, and just like for Jack, it was torture for him to have to go to school and see the other boy. It hurt—but not as much as it had when Jack had kicked him out of his hospital room. “I love Jack, sir. I’d do anything for him. And not being with him is killing me. But there’s nothing I can do about it, is there?”

“You would do anything for him?”

“Yes, I would.” Hiccup nodded seriously, lips compressing. “I’d do anything. I’d sell my bike if he asked me to. I’d quit rugby. I’d get rid of my piercings. I’d dress like I was on the honor roll. I’d change myself however I could, if he wanted me to. I’d change myself however _you_ asked just to be with him.”

The man across from him was quiet for a long time after he finished speaking, just looking at him with a kind of searching expression, before he finally asked softly, “you love him that much?”

Swallowing, Hiccup nodded again. “I do.”

Another long silence. Hiccup looked down, wishing North would just say something, rather than just staring at him. Eventually, the man across from him uncrossed his arms and placed both hands on the table.

“Hiccup,” He said, using Hiccup’s first name and causing the boy to jolt in surprise, “maybe I jumped to conclusions about you.” He frowned a little, then sat back in his chair with a contemplative noise. “It sounds as if you have Jack’s best interests at heart, regardless of the first impression you gave me.”

“I—”

But North held up a hand. “I’m not done.”

Hiccup nodded mutely.

“There will have to be rules, of course.” He continued. “For instance, you would not be permitted to _come in through the window like a burglar_ anymore. Houses have doors for a reason. And Jack has a curfew, so you have to leave before ten o’clock. If you two are out somewhere, you cannot bring him home any later than that, either.”

“Are you saying—”

“You drive a motorcycle, yes?”

“Yeah, I—”

“Jack must use a helmet at all times, or he will not be allowed to be on it anymore.”

“Of course, but—”

“And if he begins cutting classes again, or getting into trouble at school—”

“He won’t! We won’t!” Hiccup shook his head quickly, not quite believing what he was hearing. “I swear!”

“Also, if he turns up with any piercings or tattoos before he’s eighteen—”

“No, he won’t, I’ll make sure of it!”

North looked at him for a moment, then simply nodded. “Alright then.”

Completely taken aback, Hiccup just stared. “You… you’re saying we can be together? _I can be with Jack?_ ”

A smile actually began to turn the large man’s lips up, and suddenly his intimidation factor dropped immensely. “We can try it out, yes.”

“Sir, I can’t even begin to tell you how much I—”

“Yes, yes, I know.” North waved a hand toward the door. “Now, shall we go and see him?”

Hiccup was out of his chair and halfway across the shop before North even got to his feet. The older man seemed to find this amusing, just chuckling to himself as he followed the teenager out into the street.

They drove separately, given that they had both arrived in their own vehicles, but Hiccup arrived before North, parking down the block and hurrying to get to the house. He arrived just in time for North to pull into the driveway, and shuffled around on the front porch until the door was unlocked and he was, for the first time, permitted entry while North knew about it.

He waited in the living room while North went upstairs to speak to Jack.

When he climbed the stairs and knocked on his son’s door, North was finding it hard to keep the smile off of his face.

It took a moment for Jack to respond, but when he did it was with a tired voice: “yeah?”

“Jack, come downstairs.”

“Do I have to?”

“Yes.” North rolled his eyes. “I have an early Christmas gift for you, and I would like you to have it now.”

There was a long silence, followed by an unenthusiastic: “…if you say so.”

North waited, listening to Jack climb out of bed and shuffle to the door, then gave him a smile when it was finally pulled open. Jack just looked at him dully. Despite it being mid-afternoon, he was still wearing his pyjamas and clearly had yet to brush his hair. It uncharacteristically stuck up in all directions, and North had to resist the urge to smooth it down out of habit.

Instead he just made a general gesture toward the stairs and headed down with Jack following along behind him obediently enough.

When they reached the landing at the bottom, North paused and turned to face Jack again. One hand came up to rest on his shoulder and he smiled. “Merry Christmas, Jack.”

“I don’t know what you’re taking about, Dad, you—”

But North just put a hand at his son’s back and shoved him out into the living room.

Jack stumbled a little, surprised at the force behind the push—and then froze when his eyes lit on Hiccup, who was standing over next to the Christmas tree, clashing terrible with the decorations with all of his piercings and punked out clothing. Blue eyes widened and Jack looked back at his father, shaking his head in confusion.

North gave him a little smile. “Go on.”

That was all Jack needed. He spun back around and took the handful of steps between himself and Hiccup, then flung himself at the other boy, arms coming up around him. Hiccup just caught him and pulled him close, hugging him tightly as Jack’s face buried into the crook of his neck, fingers clutching desperately at the back of his shirt.

“Jack…”

“Y-you’re really here, right?” Jack’s voice came out muffled and he sounded on the verge of tears. “I’m not just imagining things?”

“I’m really here.” Hiccup replied softly. He lifted one hand to thread his fingers into white hair, then tugged Jack’s head up so he could look at him. “I’m here and I’m not going anywhere again, Frostbite.”

“But Dad—”

“It was his idea.”

Surprise, and Jack looked back over his shoulder again. “But…”

“There are rules.” North told him, but then he smiled again and conceded; “but we can talk about that later.”

Jack blinked against tears and broke out into a huge, happy smile, then turned his attention back to Hiccup—and just leaned up to kiss the other boy, who chuckled and tightened his hand in Jack’s hair gently, angling his head to return the kiss and pulling him even closer.

And that was about the time that North decided to excuse himself, ducking out of the room to give them a little—but not _too much_ —privacy.


	28. Chapter 28

It had taken a while before either Jack or Hiccup had been willing to let go of each other. After North had disappeared into his office, they had ended up cuddled up on the couch together, just holding onto one another for the longest time. Not much had been said, aside from a few murmured apologies and ‘I love you’s—there wasn’t really anything else _to_ say.

Eventually, Jack had reluctantly decided he needed to go and at least get dressed. Hiccup had just as reluctantly agreed, and after a few more minutes of procrastinating over it and a handful of little kisses, Jack finally disentangled himself and disappeared upstairs to put some real clothing on.

When he came back down, wearing a pair of old blue jeans and baggy hoodie that he _never_ would have worn outside of the house, Hiccup took a moment to consider that the fact if Jack was comfortable enough to dress that way when he was around, it probably said a lot about their relationship in general.

Jack approached him almost shyly, the sweater sleeves mostly hiding his hands, and he fiddled with them a little, even as Hiccup just reached to pull him close again, down until Jack was seated comfortably, this time in the other boy’s lap. Jack flushed a little, but didn’t protest, instead just settling quietly.

He vaguely hoped his father didn’t chose that exact moment to come back into the room.

“I wonder if you’re still grounded.”

Jack shrugged slightly and tucked his head into the warm nook between Hiccup’s neck and his shoulder, his breath fanning softly across the brunet’s skin. “I have no idea… why?”

“Well… while you were upstairs I was thinking.” Hiccup’s reply was just as quiet, murmured intimately. “Maybe… if you wanted… and if your Dad would let you go…” Tipping his head a little, green eyes peered sideways at the other boy, faint embarrassment glinting in them: “…the Winter Formal is tomorrow night, so…”

Blinking, Jack lifted his head, looking up at Hiccup in surprise. “The—the dance? Really?”

“Don’t look at me like that, Jack, this is already fucking embarrassing enough as it is.” Hiccup glanced away quickly. “It was just a thought, okay?”

“N-no, I—” Jack bit his lip, shaking his head quickly. It was relatively clear that Hiccup was interested in going to the formal with him—but he would never admit as much. So Jack just smiled, even though the idea of going to the dance gave him the same uncomfortable, anxious feeling in his stomach that the club or the party had before. “It… it could be fun, right? I’d—I’d love to go. If Dad is okay with it, I mean…”

Hiccup gave an awkward little shrug. “Yeah, I guess it could be okay… I just thought, you know, the others would be there and that kind of shit.” Then a little hesitation and he looked back at Jack. “Plus… we haven’t even gone out on a second date yet.”

“We went to the party…?”

“Well, yeah, but that was kind of a group thing. And we barely even spent any time together there. Mavis kidnapped you to talk all night then I had to save you from that shithead who was hitting on you.”

Jack pursed his lips at that. “I _told_ you already, it wasn’t like that.”

“Jack, you were drunk. You don’t know what it was like.”

The white-haired boy had to give him that one. He sighed and returned his head to Hiccup’s shoulder, one hand coming up to toy with the front of the other teen’s shirt absently. “So basically,” he said after a moment, “you’re asking me out on another date.”

Hiccup rolled his eyes, but eventually conceded: “yeah, I guess.”

“Why the formal?”

“I dunno, I just… thought you’d like it.”

Jack smiled, pressing a little, soft kiss to the side of his once-again-boyfriend’s neck. “I’ll ask my Dad if I can go. Give me a minute, okay?”

Sliding out of Hiccup’s lap, Jack padded across the room, bare feet quiet in the carpet, until he reached the door to North’s office. There, he paused, hesitating slightly before knocking on the door.

When North’s voice answered, he opened the door and slipped inside, closing it behind himself carefully. “Um, Dad… c-can I ask you something?”

North was leaning over his desk, clearly concentrating on whatever-it-was he was tinkering with: he was an inventor for a toy company, so it was probably something entertaining, but Jack wasn’t interested in that at the moment. He shuffled a little, hands tugging at the edge of his sweater nervously.

After a moment, his father leaned back, then spun his chair around to face Jack, eyebrows lifting in question. “What is it?”

Jack shifted again, still toying with his hoodie, and chewed on his lower lip for a second. “Well, u-um… I’m—I’m probably really pushing my luck, here, but…” His eyes moved down to the floor, and he shrugged slightly. “I know I’m still grounded, but, see—H-Hiccup asked if I could go to the Winter Formal with him, and… so… I was wondering…”

North sighed a bit, but when Jack peered upward again, he actually had a little, amused smile on his face. “When is it?”

“Tomorrow night…?”

“Well, you are still grounded, Jack.”

Jack looked down again, hands curling in the fabric of his shirt. “I know.”

North watched him for a moment. Then he shook his head and rolled his eyes skyward. “Alright, lets’ make a deal, hm?” He said, and when Jack looked up again his smile widened. “I’ll let you go to the formal with Hiccup, and you have to be back home by your regular curfew.”

“And…?” Jack gave him an unsure look.

“And in return,” his father told him with a wide grin, “you bake me some of your shortbread cookies, since you didn’t help me with the baking earlier this week.”

“S-seriously? That’s all?”

North gave him a shrug, trying to look nonchalant about it, but the grin that remained on his face pretty much gave him away. “You know I love your shortbread, Jack.” Spinning back around, he picked up his tools and hunched over his latest project again. “And we’ll have another discussion about you being grounded in a couple of days. But for now, yes, you may go to the formal. And yes, before you ask, Hiccup can come over on Christmas Eve.”

“Th-thank you!”

“You are welcome, but I still want my cookies.”

“Y-yes! Of course! I’ll do it right now!”

North laughed when Jack dashed out of the room before he could change his mind.

A few seconds later he was back out in the living room, a wide, happy smile on his face. Hiccup blinked a little when he saw him—then just grinned as well. The expression faltered, though, when Jack simply grabbed his arm and pulled him up off the couch, then dragged him into the kitchen.

Unsure what was going on, the brunet just watched as Jack began digging through drawers, pulling out bowls and measuring cups and ingredients left-and-right. Eventually he managed to articulate, “uh?”

“My Dad says,” Jack told him distractedly, searching through a cupboard for the vanilla extract, “I can go to the dance with you, but only if I make him cookies. He really likes the shortbread ones I make. He’s practically addicted to them. So we’re making cookies.”

Hiccup gave him a dubious look. “I don’t really… bake.”

“It’s easy.” Jack assured him, then made a little _aha!_ noise when he located the vanilla, plucking it up and setting it on the counter. Then he was bending over to search through a drawer, and Hiccup’s lips quirked a little at the sight.

A moment later, though, the white-haired teen was pulling out a pair of aprons, and when he straightened and turned to hand one to Hiccup, the punk balked, giving him an incredulous snort.

“I’m not wearing that.”

“Yes you are.”

“No, I’m not.”

“Fine then. Get out of the kitchen.”

“…”

“Well?”

“ _Okay_ , I’ll wear the stupid thing.”

“Thank you.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Hiccup took the offered apron, made a face at it before informing Jack: “Christ, Jack, you bat your goddamn eyes at me and I cave every fucking time.”

Jack just smiled a little, taking the apron back and shaking it out, then reached up to put it over Hiccup’s head, dropping a light, almost shy kiss on his lips at the same time. The brunet’s mouth finally tilted in a smile again, and when Jack stretched his arms around to tie the apron around Hiccup’s waist, he took full advantage of it, lifting one hand to thread into Jack’s hair and tilting the other boy’s head so that he could duck down and press a sucking kiss against the side of his throat.

“N-nn…” Jack bit his lip, fingers stumbling as his eyes fluttered half-closed, “H-Hiccup…”

Hiccup just smirked, brushing his lips upward until he could nip on Jack’s ear before pulling back again. “That’s for the fucking _apron_.”

A faint flush colored Jack’s face when he stepped back, and he pulled at the apron, straightening it, before muttering, “…d-doesn’t exactly make me want to take it back, you know…”

Hiccup chuckled at that, tugging lightly at white hair. He leaned forward again, this time kissing the other boy properly—deeply and slowly, until Jack was leaning into him and they were both breathless just from the emotion behind it. When they parted a moment later, Hiccup licked his lips, watching as Jack’s eyes opened again, flitting up to meet his own—and then the other teen leaned his forehead against Hiccup’s, swallowing slightly.

“I missed you.”

“I know. I’m sorry.”

“And I love you.”

“I love you, too, Jack.” Hiccup smiled, fingers stroking through Jack’s hair in a gentle, fond manner. Jack just sighed softly and leaned into the touch. The brunet had to resist the urge to apologize for everything again. Instead he shook his head, then kissed Jack lightly again before drawing away. “Come on, I thought we were making some cookies or whatever.”

Jack brightened at that. Baking Christmas cookies was something he had done every year for almost his entire life. In the past it had always been something he done with North—and now he was actually pretty happy to be able to share it with Hiccup, too, even if it was kind of childish and corny.

And anyway, seeing Hiccup wearing North’s frilly white apron was worth it all by itself.


	29. Chapter 29

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lyrics are to "I Won't Give Up" by Jason Mraz

Baking took more-or-less the rest of the day, and it turned out that Hiccup was pretty much a disaster on legs in the kitchen. It was a good thing that Jack had managed to get him to wear the apron, or he would have gone home covered in every ingredient they were working with. Instead he just got some flour on his jeans and a couple of dozen cookies to take home with him as thanks for “helping.”

Having taken up the kitchen for the entire afternoon and a good part of the evening meant that no one had had a chance to actually cook dinner, so in the end North just shrugged and ordered pizza, then allowed Jack and Hiccup to take theirs upstairs and eat in Jack’s room—under the condition that his door remain open. Neither of them complained about it.

Finally, around eight o’clock, having spent the better part of the day together, North almost reluctantly kicked Hiccup out for the night, then rolled his eyes when his son spent nearly fifteen minutes at the front door with the other boy, exchanging little kisses and soft goodbyes.

Eventually, they did manage to pry themselves apart long enough for Hiccup to make it out the door, at which point Jack closed it behind him, turned around and leaned back against the wood with a happy little smile on his face. It was the first time North had seen Jack smile in weeks, and if he’d had any doubts left, they quickly dissolved at the sight.

Still, he had a few things he needed to talk with Jack about, and so before the boy could vanish back to his room again, North interrupted his happy daze with the clearing of his throat and a serious look.

“Jack, there are some things we need to discuss.”

“Oh.” Jack pushed away from the door, shifting a little, hesitation in the movement. “Um… okay. I—I guess we probably do.”

North nodded, waving a hand lightly. “Come on. We’ll tidy the kitchen while we talk.”

Jack just followed along quietly. His father had already given him permission to see Hiccup—had even been the one to actually bring Hiccup into the house this time—but he couldn’t help being nervous anyway. It was practically instinctual.

The kitchen was pretty much a disaster. Normally when Jack baked (or cooked), he made a point of being tidy and cleaning up after himself. But then, he didn’t usually bake with Hiccup, either. Between his boyfriend’s hopelessness and his own distraction, things just… hadn’t gotten cleaned up.

“Sorry, I should have, um…” Jack stood in the doorway and fidgeted. “I was just, I mean…”

North sighed and shook his head as he looked around, then just moved across to start cleaning up, resealing the flour and putting it away, along with the bottle of vanilla and the icing sugar. “It’s alright. You had company and were distracted.”

“Yeah, but…”

A chuckle. North tossed him a towel. “Come on, I’ll wash.”

They fell into a sort of familiar rhythm after that; the kind born from years of nights spent in the kitchen together, cooking and cleaning and doing the dishes. North always washed—and Jack always dried. That was just the way it had been for as long as either of them cared to remember.

For Jack, it was almost comfortingly _domestic_ , after everything. The last few weeks had been hard on him for more than just the fact that he couldn’t see Hiccup. His relationship with his father had been strained to the breaking point: another faltered step and it would have snapped in two, possibly been shattered past the point of ever being fixable. And that had been as distressing a thought as the idea of spending the rest of his life without Hiccup.

“Dad?”

Jack broke the silence first, though he didn’t look up. Blue eyes stayed pinned on the plate he was holding in his hands and he continued drying it methodically. North glanced at him from the corner of his eye, but didn’t stop washing the dishes either.

“What is it, Jack?”

A short hesitation, and then, softly, “I’m really sorry.”

North was quiet for a while. “I know.” He said finally. “So am I.”

“No… Dad, it’s…” Jack shook his head, eyes still down. His hands paused. “I get it, I… I know why you…” Trailing off, he sighed softly, swallowing down the painful ache that came along with even thinking about the previous weeks. “You don’t have to apologize, Dad.”

“But I am sorry, Jack. I… underestimated your feelings for that boy. And his feelings for you.”

“It’s… it’s okay. Really.” Jack assured him. Then he added, “and… and thanks. For today.”

North took another moment before he spoke again. They continued doing the dishes in silence in the meantime, until finally he said, “Hiccup isn’t the man I would have chosen for you. But… if he is half the person you claim him to be, and if he loves you even a fraction of what I suspect he does, then… I can be content with that.” He smiled then, looking sideways at Jack, and added, “if you are happy with him, I suppose that’s the important thing.”

The white-haired boy couldn’t help it when a wide smile took over his face. “ _Dad_ …”

Chuckling, North turned his attention back to the sink, continuing on with the washing. “However, as I said, there are rules. Hiccup has already agreed to them, and I expect you to follow them as well.”

Jack nodded to that possibly a little too enthusiastically.

The rest of the evening was spent finishing up in the kitchen, Jack listening to North as it was explained just what his father expected of him, mostly between then and when he turned eighteen—at which point there was little North could really do anymore even if Jack did break the rules.

Once that was done, Jack said goodnight and excused himself to his room, where he fell asleep pretty much as soon as he collapsed into bed: despite the fact that he hadn’t really done all that much, the day had been more than a little emotionally exhausting. But this time he was at least sleeping because he was tired, not out of the bleakness of suicidal depression.

The next day he was up just before ten o’clock, showered and dressed for (most of) the day half an hour later. Breakfast was quick—toast and nutella, he got a _look_ from his father at that one—and then he made his way back to his room and set about actually cleaning it for the first time in a month.

That pretty much kept him busy for the rest of the day, until he looked at the clock and it was blaring five p.m. in his face. Startled by how fast the time had passed, Jack had a moment of fluttery panic because Hiccup was supposed to be picking him up for the formal in _thirty freaking minutes_ , and not only was he not ready, he was also dirty and dusty from cleaning and needed another shower before he could even consider getting properly dressed.

Half an hour of frantic scrambling to clean himself up and get ready for the dance later found him standing in front of the bathroom mirror, smoothing nervously at his shirt. He was wearing a suit this time: navy blue slacks and a matching jacket—it _was_ the formal, after all—but he hadn’t worn it in a while and despite the fact that he was used to being dressed relatively nicely even at school, this was a little more than usual.

On top of that, he had debated before deciding on a Christmas tie, and now he was wondering if he should change it or not. It wasn’t like it was bright red or anything. It was actually just a little lighter blue than his suit, but it had snowflakes on it and he was seriously worried that Hiccup would laugh when he saw it.

But it was a Christmas dance. And it didn’t look bad, really. It wasn’t garish. So after running it through his head more times than he could count, Jack eventually decided to go with it. He smoothed at the tie anxiously and then hurried out of the bathroom before he could change his mind.

He was just retrieving his jacket from his bedroom when the doorbell rang downstairs. His eyes flew to the clock and he noted that Hiccup was running a few minutes late, then grabbed his jacket from the back of the chair, shoved his feet into his shoes, and made his way down the stairs.

North met him in the entryway with a camera in hand, and Jack wanted to bang his head into the wall. Instead he just hissed “ _Dad, no!_ ” and pushed his father out of the way to open the door, stepping aside so Hiccup could come into the house.

The other boy stepped inside, shaking snow from his coat, and smiled at Jack, then nodded toward North. “Sir.” Then he turned his attention back to his boyfriend and offered, “sorry I’m late. Traffic was bad coming across from my place. I think there was an accident or something.”

Jack just shook his head. “It’s okay. Um, just give me a second to get my coat and we can g—”

But North interrupted, holding up a hand to get their attention. “When will you be back by?”

“I’ll have him back by ten, sir.” Hiccup responded immediately.

North nodded, pleased—and then held up the camera. Jack buried his face in his hands and moaned. “ _Daaaaad_ , I said _no_ , come on!”

Hiccup shook his head, sighed, and ran a hand through his hair. Then he just shrugged out of his coat and reached to set it on the bench beside the door. Jack dropped his hands, shoulders slumping in resignation, then looked up again—and stopped.

The punk was wearing his usual jeans and combat boots—that was no surprise. But his normal sleeveless t-shirt and leather vest were gone, replaced by an actual dress shirt. It was half-tucked, the sleeves rolled up to his elbows and the top button undone—but Hiccup was even wearing a _tie_ , loose around his neck but still _on him_ , and Jack just couldn’t stop himself from staring.

Hiccup just shrugged, obviously a little uncomfortable, then reached with one hand to tug at Jack’s own tie. “Snowflakes, huh?”

Jack nodded, eyes still wide, then looked down at where Hiccup’s fingers were hooked into his tie. His hands twisted absently at the suit jacket he was still holding, and he had to stop himself before he wrinkled it so badly he couldn’t even wear it. “Yeah, it’s probably stupid… I should go pick another one…”

But the other teen just shook his head. “It’s fine, Jack. I like it.”

“R-really?” Jack peered up at him shyly, blushing a little—and North finally rolled his eyes and clapped a hand into Jack’s back, making him stumble a couple steps toward Hiccup. He yelped in surprise, then spun to face his father. “Dad!”

“Just stand for a picture and you can go.” North told him firmly.

Really, Jack probably couldn’t blame his Dad for wanting a photo. After all, it was his senior year in high school and this was literally the first school function he had gone to, never mind a dance, and especially not with an actual _date_. It was kind of a big deal. And it was obvious North wasn’t going to take no for an answer.

Finally Jack just resigned himself to an awkward snapshot to add to the photo album and shrugged into his suit jacket, smoothing it down absently. Then he gave a soft, surprised sound when Hiccup’s arm came around his waist and the brunet tugged him over against his side.

Looking up, Jack bit his lip slightly, blushing again, but stayed there, tucked into Hiccup’s side with the punk’s arm around him and a hand resting warmly on his hip. He was so distracted by the other boy he barely even noticed North speaking, and only looked over when Hiccup nudged him to get his attention.

“Oh—uh, sorry Dad…” Embarrassed, Jack glanced down, then back up long enough to smile for the photo.

While North checked the picture quality on the digital camera, Hiccup ducked his head and pressed a kiss into Jack’s hair. Surprised, Jack looked up at him—and Hiccup just dropped another kiss against his forehead.

“You look great.” Hiccup told him softly.

Jack’s cheeks darkened yet again, but he lifted a hand to touch against Hiccup’s chest, toying with the edge of the other boy’s tie a little. “S-so do you…”

Hiccup gave another little half-shrug. Jack was about to say something else, but North took that moment to snap another this time much more candid picture, then waved them off, turning to wander into the living room, smiling to himself over whatever he had just captured on film.

As soon as he was gone, Hiccup leaned to give Jack a real kiss, and the white-haired boy happily returned it, fingers catching in the front of Hiccup’s shirt lightly. A minute later, though, the punk pulled back, smirking a little when Jack tried to follow him, a silent complaint to the end of the kiss.

“Better get going.”

“Yeah…”

It only took a moment for them to get into their coats, and Jack tucked a scarf around his neck as well. Then they were out the door—and Jack was both surprised and pleased to see that Hiccup had parked his bike right outside the house this time, in full view of his father and the neighbours.

Strange as it seemed to be getting back on the motorcycle again, Jack found himself more than happy to do so. Before, the bike had been more than a little scary, but now it just reminded him that he was with Hiccup and provided him with the rush of excitement and joy that came with the fact that the other teen wouldn’t be taken away from him again.

When they pulled into the parking lot at Berk, Jack was almost disappointed that the ride was over. Tucking his hands into the pockets of his coat, he smiled and hurried to catch up to Hiccup when the other boy headed toward the school: his feet slipped slightly in the snow, and one of Hiccup’s hands flew out to catch hold of his arm to keep him from falling. Jack gave a relieved little sigh and a grateful smile.

After that they made it inside safely and managed to get their coats hung up on the racks that had been set up by the doors. The few people who were mingling around the hallway gave them surprised looks—probably for more than one reason—but didn’t say anything, and Jack just ducked his head out of habit to avoid the stares.

When Hiccup’s hand took hold of his, he looked up, smiling slightly. “Sorry.”

“Ignore them. They’re assholes.”

Jack nodded, but his eyes slid downward again. He hadn’t been back in the school since passing out in the hall, and the time before that he had been the center of attention just because of rumours about himself and Hiccup and the breakup. Now eyes were on him again, and as usual it made him uncomfortable.

Hiccup, feeling protective, just held his hand firmly, kept his chin up, and glared at anyone who looked their way for too long.

They made their way to the auditorium without incident, and Jack finally looked up again when Hiccup tugged him through the wide double doors. The room was decorated in yet more Christmas colors—silver and blue this time—glitter, tinsel and streamers everywhere. There was even a disco ball, which, though not very Christmas-y, did cast pretty lights all around the room.

Along one wall was a table with drinks and snacks set up. In one corner was a DJ booth, where a kid no older than them was picking through CDs and bobbing his head in time with the music that was currently playing—some generic alt-rock that Jack didn’t actually recognise. The entire room was filled with kids, some standing around, some mingling, some dancing.

“Yo, Haddock! Jack!”

Jack blinked, turning his head to follow the voice even as Hiccup began manoeuvring them through the crowd, over to a round table off to one corner, a few feet from the refreshments. A few chairs were scattered around, and that was where they found their friends.

Nod was waving them over, the same as at the party weeks before, just as happy to see them and not a single shred of surprise at seeing them together on his face. It took Jack a moment to realize that Hiccup must have told at least one person that they would be coming together, and then the word would have quickly spread from there.

When they paused next to the table, Jack found himself sidling closer to Hiccup without even meaning to. He had simply gotten used to being alone again, the last while, so being around the others—even though they were his friends—was mildly unsettling. If anyone else noticed, though, they didn’t say anything.

“Lookin’ good, Hic.” Astrid was sitting across the table, and propped her elbow on the tabletop, resting her chin in her hand and regarding her long-time friend with obvious amusement. “A tie? Really?”

Hiccup just gave her a flat look. “It’s a _formal_ , Astrid.”

“Yeah but, come on. A _tie?_ ”

“Oh, shut the hell up.”

Jack just smiled a little at the exchange, eyes lifting from the ground momentarily. Aster took that moment to catch his gaze. He held it firmly, and Jack shifted, uncomfortable under the other boy’s scrutiny.

“How’re you feelin’, Snowball?” Aster asked, a subtle, serious tone to his voice. Jack knew what he meant, even if he didn’t come out and actually say it. And he was grateful for the other boy’s discretion.

“I’m… I’m good, Aster.” He smiled a little, reassuringly, and Aster studied him for another short moment before seeming to accept his response as truthful.

He nodded shortly, then flashed a smile of his own. “Good to see ya’ out and about.”

Jack gave an agreeing nod, ducking his head slightly, almost embarrassed. When he looked back up, Aster’s attention had been pulled elsewhere and Violet was waving to him from her seat a few feet away, so Jack finally took his hand back from Hiccup and made his way over to say hello to her.

The next while passed comfortably enough for him, just sitting around and chatting with Violet and the others while the music played and everyone around them focused on other things. And Jack was so engrossed in his conversations that he actually forgot about Hiccup for a little while—until the other teen came up and patted him on the head to catch his attention.

“Huh?” Blinking, Jack peered up at Hiccup curiously.

The punk regarded him for a minute, then shifted, cleared his throat, and reached to haul him to his feet. Jack let him do so, though he wasn’t entirely sure what was going on, particularly when Hiccup just took hold of his hand and began pulling him away.

Surprised, Jack nearly protested—if they were leaving, he needed to go back and say goodbye and get his suit jacket from where he’d hung it on the back of his chair a few minutes before—but stopped himself when he realized that Hiccup wasn’t taking him to the exit—he was heading for the dance floor.

Jack nearly balked, just barely catching himself before he could dig his heels in, because all he could think about was what had happened the _last time_ they had danced together, and right now they weren’t exactly surrounded by strangers. People they knew would see them.

The only thing that kept him from refusing to go along was when he suddenly registered that the song that was just beginning to play was a _slow_ one.

And _oh_.

 _When I look into your eyes_  
It’s like watching the night sky  
Or a beautiful sunrise  
Well, there’s so much they hold

Jack’s normally pale face flushed dark red, even as Hiccup was pausing out in the middle of the dance floor, where they were surrounded by other couples. He looked at the other teen, eyes a little wide. Hiccup just gave him a half-shrug and a weirdly cute lopsided smile.

 _And just like them old stars_  
I see that you’ve come so far  
To be right where you are  
How old is your soul?

When Hiccup pulled him close, Jack made a quiet little _eep-_ ing noise and flustered even more, then eventually just gave up and ducked his head against the other boy’s shoulder to hide his face out of embarrassment.

 _Well, I won’t give up on us_  
Even if the skies get rough  
I’m giving you all my love  
I’m still looking up.

Then Hiccup’s arms still wrapped around his waist and Jack tentatively let his hands come up to rest by the punk’s shoulders.

 _And when you’re needing your space_  
To do some navigating  
I’ll be here patiently waiting  
To see what you find.

He had never danced like this with anyone before, and at first it felt awkward and like everyone else had to be staring at them. But after a few tense seconds the white-haired boy began to relax, and shortly after he carefully slid his hands up and over Hiccup’s shoulders, until his arms were wrapped securely around the other boy’s neck.

 _'Cause even the stars they burn_  
Some even fall to the earth  
We’ve got a lot to learn  
God knows we’re worth it  
No, I won’t give up.

The next step was turning his head so that his face wasn’t buried in Hiccup’s shirt. Jack hesitated just slightly before letting his head come to rest against the brunet’s shoulder. Blue eyes closed over and he took a deep, shaky breath—then smiled a little when Hiccup’s arms tightened around him the slightest bit.

 _I won’t give up on us_  
Even if the skies get rough  
I’m giving you all my love  
I’m still looking up, still looking up.

Moving together became almost natural, relaxing, and Jack finally lost himself to the music and the warmth of Hiccup’s embrace—to love and contentment—until the other people and their surroundings were the farthest thing from his mind.

 _Well, I won’t give up on us (no I’m not giving up)_  
God knows I’m tough enough (I am tough, I am loved)  
We’ve got a lot to learn (we’re alive, we are loved)  
God knows we’re worth it (and we’re worth it.)

“Hey, Jack?”

“Mm?”

When the music began winding down a couple of minutes later, Hiccup’s movement paused and Jack followed suit, then lifted his head to look up at his boyfriend. Forest green eyes peered down at him—and despite where they were and all the other people around, Jack couldn’t help himself—

 _I won’t give up on us_  
Even if the skies get rough  
I’m giving you all my love.

He leaned up without a single hesitation, despite where they were, despite the crowds and possible stares, and kissed Hiccup.

And Hiccup just smiled and kissed him back.

_I’m still looking up._


	30. Chapter 30

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Final chapter! :)

The rest of the formal was mostly a blur for Jack. He and Hiccup danced to a few more songs, and for once Jack was completely fine about the fact that they were together and showing affection in public. Instead he was just enjoying the warmth, the closeness and the comfort that came from having Hiccup’s arms around him again.

After that they hung out with their friends for a while longer, chatting and joking, just messing around like normal teenagers. Mavis, who went to another school and technically wasn’t even supposed to be there since she didn’t have a date from Berk either, gushed over how cute they were together and how happy she was that they had (finally) worked everything out. The others, though they were all much more reserved about it, agreed. Jack blushed over the attention while Hiccup just rolled his eyes and held his geeky boyfriend snugly against his hip.

Eventually, Violet stole Jack away to make a trip to the table of refreshments, where they hummed and hawed over the offerings before making off with two whole trays of snacks and a mostly-full box of pizza, returning to their table a couple minutes later to be greeted with actual _cheers_. After that he and Violet were the not-completely-unsung heroes of the entire night.

Around eight, completely oblivious to the shocked stares she got from everyone else, Mavis managed to somehow convince Hiccup to let her actually borrow Jack for a couple of dances—“not slow dancing, Hic, duh! Of course not!”—and Jack, possibly during a moment of temporary insanity, went along with it. It turned out Mavis wasn’t that bad of a dancer, but adopted a totally dorky style that was easy to copy just for his sake, and the entire debacle ended up with the two of them laughing so hard at each other that Jack even managed to forget his own self-consciousness for once. Eventually Mavis dragged him back to the table and he just collapsed into a chair, still giggling to himself over the whole thing. Hiccup, though he tried not to show it, was pretty obviously amused.

Finally, just after nine-thirty, Hiccup had to interrupt a cheerful conversation Jack was having with Astrid and Nod to call his attention to the time, and Jack reluctantly said his goodbyes to everyone, since they had promised North that he would be back home by ten o’clock. It was too bad, really, because he was actually having a lot of fun, despite his nervousness at the beginning of the evening.

He picked his jacket up from the back of a chair, gave a little wave, reassured everyone that he would see (most of them) at school when they got back from Christmas break, and then followed Hiccup out the door, shrugging into his jacket again as they walked.

Out in the hall, they retrieved their coats from the improvised rack and pulled them on, Hiccup giving Jack a little smile and reaching to tug at the zipper of his coat almost fondly. Jack just blushed and returned the smile with one of his own, then glanced down at the ground, bringing both hands up to take hold of the front of the brunet’s coat in return.

“I… I really had fun tonight.” He said softly, and looked up again, expression soft and happy. “I know you probably wouldn’t usually go to something like this, so thanks. For coming with me and everything.”

Hiccup just gave him a kind of lopsided half-smile and a shrug. “Hell, I couldn’t _ask you to go_ and then not come _myself_ , right?”

"Yeah, but still…" Jack started, "I really apprecia—"

But Hiccup interrupted him, leaning down to kiss him gently. When he straightened again, Jack blushed and ducked his head to hide against the other teen’s jacket, his bashfulness at public displays of affection having returned now that he was no longer lost in the music on the dance floor.

The punk chuckled. “You are still _so fucking cute_.”

"S-so you keep telling me."

"Because it’s true."

"Whatever." Jack mumbled. He lifted his head again, still blushing, and stepped away from Hiccup. The other boy reached to take his hand, then, and they headed out to where Hiccup’s bike was parked where they had left it a a few hours before.

Hiccup quickly handed Jack his helmet—“his” because pretty much no one else used it besides him—and then grabbed his own, pulling it on quickly. Jack once again tucked his glasses into his pocket before doing the same.

Then they both climbed onto the motorcycle and were off.

They got to Jack’s house with five minutes to spare before his curfew and Jack quickly slid back off of the bike and returned the helmet, unsurprised when Hiccup turned the vehicle off and swung his leg over as well, standing and removing his own helmet, then following the white-haired boy to the porch.

Jack paused there, shivering against the winter cold, but it was only for a few seconds before Hiccup reached out and pulled him forward, tucking him into his chest and wrapping his arms around him. Jack continued shivering for another moment before the other teen’s warmth began to seep through to him, and he sighed softly.

"You should seriously consider a car or something for this time of year."

Hiccup gave a snort of laughter. “You think so?”

"Mn." Jack nodded, pursing his lips and giving Hiccup a serious look. "It’s _freezing_ riding that thing in the snow.” Then a tilt of his head. He glanced over toward the road. “Probably not all that safe, either.” He added.

Green eyes rolled at that. “But if you get cold riding my bike, just means you’d hold on even tighter.” Hiccup teased with a little half-smirk.

“ _Hiccup_.”

"Yeah yeah. Shit, what are you, my father?"

This time it was Jack’s turn to snort, drawing a soft chuckle from the other teen. Hiccup smiled down at him. Jack just sighed and shook his head. Then he shifted and brought one hand up to grab at the front of Hiccup’s coat again. He tugged lightly until Hiccup leaned down to give him a kiss, then let go and stepped back from the punk’s embrace.

"You’re still coming over tomorrow, right?"

"Duh."

"Dad wants you here for five."

"I know."

"Seriously, just be here on time, okay?"

Hiccup nodded and waved a hand. “I’ll _be here_ , Frostbite. Not get inside before your Dad catches you our past your curfew.”

Jack sighed. He really didn’t mean to fuss, but despite his father’s new allowance of his relationship with Hiccup, he couldn’t help but worry. It had only been a couple of days. What if North changed his mind? What if Hiccup did something wrong and he decided that the punk wasn’t good enough after all? Hell, what if _Jack_ screwed up (again) somehow?

His upset thoughts must have begun to show on his face, because Hiccup shook his head and moved over to pull him into another hug. “Stop _worrying_ , you idiot. Everything’ll be fine.”

Jack wound his arms around his boyfriend, fingers catching in the back of his jacket, and leaned his head down against Hiccup’s chest. “How do you know that, though?”

One of Hiccup’s hands came up to stroke through his hair gently, the touch absently soothing in nature, and he leaned his chin down on Jack’s shoulder. “Even if your Dad decides he doesn’t like me… I don’t think he’ll risk trying to break us up again. And even if he did… shit, Jack, after everything? I’m not going goddamn _anywhere_.”

It was probably childish, but Jack asked softly, “you promise?”

And Hiccup actually refrained from teasing him, instead just tilting his head to press a little kiss just under Jack’s jaw. “I. Fucking. _Promise_.”

The white-haired boy had to smile at that, lips lifting just a bit, and he closed his eyes when Hiccup dropped another gentle kiss against his cheek. “Thanks, Hiccup.”

"Yeah yeah." Hiccup’s arms squeezed around him, then released, and Jack stepped back again. "Go on inside, Frostbite, before you end up grounded."

Jack smiled a little more, then nodded and reached to pull the door open. “See you later.”

The brunet lifted one hand and have a brief wave. “See you tomorrow.”

Slipping inside, Jack closed the door behind himself quietly, trying not to wince when he clicked the lock into place, and then shrugged out of his coat to hang it in the closet. The grandfather clock in the hall was saying twenty-one minutes after ten. He was past his curfew.

It wasn’t a surprise when he turned around to sneak up the stairs to his room and his father was standing in the living room doorway with his arms crossed and one dark eyebrow raised. Jack bit his lip and rubbed his hands together anxiously.

"Uh… hey Dad."

North just looked at him, then very pointedly moved his eyes to the clock. “You’re late.”

"Yeaaah, I…" Jack shuffled. "Hiccup got me here on time but then we got talking out on the porch and…"

He was given a stern look. “You know your curfew is ten o’clock.”

"I know." The boy drooped. "I’m sorry."

"But, if you say you were here on time…" North sighed and waved a hand. "Alright. Just make sure not to do it again."

Jack looked up in surprise—then broke into a smile and nodded quickly. He ran over and gave his father a hug, which earned him a chuckle. “I promise!” And then, “I’m gonna go upstairs now. Goodnight, Dad.”

"Goodnight, Jack."

Before North could change his mind, Jack hurried up the steps and disappeared into his room. Once he was inside with his door safely closed, he heaved a sigh of relief. For a minute there he had really been worried that he was about to be grounded again, and that was the last thing he wanted right now.

The next half an hour was spent getting out of his suit and getting ready for bed, brushing his teeth and stowing his glasses away in their case on the nightstand, along with his cell phone. This was really kind of early for him to be going to bed, but it had been a busy night… and he was still recovering from everything that had happened over the past few weeks, besides.

So he turned out the lights, climbed into bed and shuffled things around until he was comfortable.

Maybe five minutes after he had settled, his cell buzzed over on the table.

Jack frowned and reached over, fumbling in the darkness before nicking it with his fingers and bringing it over close enough to his face that he could read the screen even without his glasses on.

_Sleep well, Frostbite._

A smile, and he brought his other hand up to punch in a reply: _Goodnight, Hiccup._

The phone didn’t buzz again, so he returned it to the nightstand and rolled over, pulling his blankets up to his chin.

A few minutes later he fell asleep with a little, absently happy smile on his face—and when he woke up the next morning, warm and groggy and to his father knocking on his door telling him to get up, it was still there.

The morning was spent helping North in the kitchen with stuffing the turkey, getting it into the oven, preparing the potatoes and vegetables and that sort of thing. The two of them worked together well, this time chatting cheerfully the entire time, and for the first time in a long time everything felt back to normal between Jack and his dad. It was nice.

Once everything was prepped and ready, the turkey already cooking, Jack then begged off with North’s permission, bundled himself up against the cold and made a very last-minute excursion to the mall, where he did a little bit of Christmas Eve shopping, since he hadn’t bothered to do any up until then. There hadn’t seemed to be a point until a couple days before.

After two hours at the mall, a quick lunch at Burger King and a shopping bag of gifts later found him home again, holed up in his room and hastily wrapping everything up to take down and stash under the Christmas tree for later that night and the next morning.

Once he was finished with that—at four thirty, he was cutting it close—he just flopped back onto his bed with a weary sigh and closed his eyes. He drifted off a couple minutes later, and dozed until just after five o’clock, when another soft knock sounded at his door.

"Mmh?" Before he could even properly respond it was pushed open, and when Jack finally cracked his eyes open it was just in time to see Hiccup lean down to drop a kiss against his forehead.

"Your Dad let me in." The punk told him with a grin. "Didn’t expect you to be _asleep_ , you dork.”

"Sorry," Jack mumbled, pushing himself up. He sat slowly, then fumbled for his glasses, plucking them from where they had fallen on the mattress and setting them back on his face, pushing them up into place with two fingers. "It’s been a long day."

Hiccup gave a soft chuckle and held a hand out to help him up, then pulled him in for a proper kiss. “Good thing you got a nap in, then.” Followed by; “c’mon, your Dad wants us to come down for dinner.”

Jack smiled. “Yeah. Lets’ go then.”

Dinner turned out to be a lot less stressful than Jack had anticipated. He had honestly thought things would turn out to be exceedingly tense, but, though there was the occasional awkward moment, everything pretty much ended up fine.

It probably helped that Hiccup had had the foresight to dress nicely—not in a suit, but at least a long-sleeved t-shirt that covered most of his tattoos (not that North didn’t have extensive tattooing of his own; but it was a nice gesture nonetheless)—and had taken out most of his piercings for the evening, leaving in only the ones in his ears.

Conversation between the three of them was pleasant, and Jack was impressed to note that Hiccup made a very specific point of not swearing a single time throughout the entire dinner. It must have been very difficult for him, considering his tendency toward that kind of language.

The brunet also went out of his way to tell North how good everything was (and he wasn’t exaggerating, it really was delicious and Hiccup appreciated it because he and his father could never make a meal as nice as that) and then, when they were finished eating, offered to help tidy up.

The next little while was spent clearing the table and putting the leftover food away. Then Jack and Hiccup did the dishes while North relaxed in the living room.

In general, Hiccup made a very good impression of himself. He seemed determined to rewrite the first one he had given North so many weeks ago.

Once the kitchen was clean and the dishes were put away in the cupboards, they returned to the living room, at which point North retreated to his office and closed the door behind himself. The two teens vaguely decided they were going to watch some television, then settled on a random Christmas movie since there was nothing other than Christmas movies _on_.

Hiccup settled himself on the couch, lifting a hand to gesture for Jack to join him—but the white-haired boy hesitated, shifted, then, instead of crawling onto the sofa to cuddle into his boyfriend’s side, instead headed over to the Christmas tree and pulling out a carefully-wrapped gift.

When he returned to where Hiccup was waiting, Jack carefully sat down, tucked himself against Hiccup, and held the present out for him. “Here. This is for you.”

Hiccup gave a little smile. “Well shit, Jack. You didn’t have to do that.”

"I know." Jack nodded, then smiled as well when Hiccup took the package. "But I wanted to." And then, almost hesitantly, "I—I mean, it’s nothing special, I just… I wanted to get you something. So I did. Um, that’s okay, right?"

A soft, warm chuckle. “Yeah. It’s okay.” One auburn eyebrow raised in question, “do you want me to open it now or what?”

Jack shrugged. “Well, I mean… you don’t _have_ to. But you can if you want.”

Another quiet laugh and Hiccup began unwrapping his gift, tearing through the paper to reveal what was inside. When he saw what it was, a smile lit his face. Jack had gotten him the newest book by his favorite fantasy author, Cressida Cowell. “I didn’t even know this one was out yet.”

"I know!" His boyfriend perked, grinning, expression proud, "the girl at the bookstore said it just came out last week! I went in to look for a book for you and saw it and I had to grab it for you!"

Amused at Jack’s enthusiasm, Hiccup wrapped one arm around the cute little nerd next to him and gave him a squeeze. “Thanks, Jack.”

Jack just continued to look pleased with himself—until Hiccup set the book in his lap and slipped his free hand into his pocket, then pulled out a tiny wrapped box. He held it out toward Jack with a small smile and a tilt of his head, watching as the other boy’s blue eyes blinked in surprise.

"For you, Frosty."

Pale fingers reached out tentatively to take the gift. It was small, light, and expertly wrapped. Jack was kind of surprised at the last part. When he looked up at Hiccup questioningly, the punk gave a snort and rolled his eyes.

"Don’t look at me. The chick at the store wrapped that shit for me."

"Ah." That made more sense.

"Are you gonna open it, or…?"

"Uh, no, yeah! I’m—"

Jack nodded, pulling the present toward himself, and carefully pulled the ribbon off of the package, then unwrapped the paper. Inside was a little box, green velvet. Jack frowned, confused, and cracked it open almost hesitantly. Then he paused, swallowing, eyes flitting toward Hiccup and then back down to the box in his hand.

The pendant was silver, about the size of a quarter, a complex, delicate snowflake. Jack picked it up gently and took it out of it’s case, holding it up to look at it in the light.

"Hiccup…"

"Hey, I wanted to get you something… special." Hiccup gave an almost awkward shrug, a faint blush rising in his face. He was clearly out of his element, here. "Yanno, like you. And I found that and it seemed kinda perfect, so… yeah." But Jack was still just staring at the pendant, and after a moment the brunet shifted, "fuck. You don’t like it, do you? I’m sorry, shit, I’ll take it back and get you something else, or—"

"No!" Jack shook his head quickly, eyes flying back to Hiccup, "no, I like it! Really!"

Hiccup hesitated. “Seriously? Because you don’t have to say that just beca—”

Jack shook his head again, a wide smile beginning to stretch his lips, and he looked at the pendant again. “It’s beautiful, I mean… it’s really pretty. I love it.”

There was a soft, relieved noise from his right. “Thank fucking God. I don’t have a clue where the receipt is anyway.”

The smaller boy laughed at that, then shifted a bit and reached to clasp the necklace around his neck. He lifted the pendant away from his skin, smiling brightly. “Thank you so much, Hiccup…”

"You’re welcome, Jack." Hiccup smiled along with him, then reached to tug Jack around to look at him and leaned in for a kiss. "Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas." Jack replied softly. "I love you."

A little kiss back by his ear and Hiccup replied in kind; “love you, too.”

The next little while was spent cuddling, kissing and generally ignoring whatever movie was playing on the television in the background, Jack loving the warmth and intimate attention, as well as the new weight of silver around his neck, the smooth feel of metal against his chest under his shirt.

Finally they settled with Jack cuddled up into Hiccup’s side with his head resting on his boyfriend’s chest and the brunet’s arm around his shoulders. Jack closed his eyes, then, just listening to Hiccup’s heartbeat for a few minutes until the other teen spoke up, voice rumbling in his chest.

"So you’re coming back to school after break’s done, yeah?"

"Yeah."

"Good."

"I’m so far behind, though… I dunno how I’m ever gonna catch up on everything."

"Well, we’ve got a little more than a week still. Maybe I can give you a hand or something."

Jack gave a soft laugh. “Are you serious?”

"Hey," Hiccup sounded offended, "I know how to goddamn study when I want to!"

Another laugh. “Oh, really?”

"S’right." The punk’s chin, which had been resting in Jack’s hair, lifted, and he looked down at the other teen.

Jack looked right back up at him. “Prove it.”

Hiccup blinked, then let his mouth twitch into a smirk. “You’re on. Saturday, my place. What d’you wanna go through first?”

And Jack just grinned. “I was thinking maybe biology.”

**End.**


	31. Author's Notes

WOW. Okay so we’re at the Author’s Notes portion of Biology! WHOO!

 DUDE I JUST FUCKING _FINISHED BIOLOGY_. o__o

I mean, okay, granted it’s still got a sequel and everything, and Chemistry will probably end up at least as long as Biology, but still! This is a huge accomplishment for me! Biology was 30 chapters, 140 pages and approximately 55,000 words long! Like WHOA, right? IT’S LEGIT THE LENGTH OF A NOVEL.

And all of that is not even counting the side-fics that I’ve written and have planned!

This has been kind of a roller coaster for me right from Day One, to be honest, but I’ve loved (almost) every minute of it. ♥

Biology was the first thing I started writing in the HiJack fandom, and it was inspired by the lovely [Laryn’s](http://laryndawn.tumblr.com/) art, so everyone can thank her for getting me started on this whole road!

Originally, I just wrote three little scenes and that was about as far as I planned to take it. I had NO INTENTION of it ending up the way it did. But everyone was SO supportive and loved it so much that I decided to write some more and… well. The whole thing snowballed, as you can see!

But I’m glad it did. I had a lot of fun writing Biology and experimenting with different things in my writing that I never really had before. I’d never written a punk/nerd dynamic before, for one thing. And I’ve never really written much in the way of fluff before this, either.

The one thing I DID have a lot of experience with was ANGST, which you can probably tell by how often I got messages and comments about my ripping people’s hearts out. And I have to admit I get a certain satisfaction out of angst that I don’t seem to get out of anything else. I’m an angst bunny, what can I say? Haha~

But ANYWAY.

So, about Chemistry! I’m not done with the boys yet!

The last couple months I had been telling people that there were still probably at least another seven or so chapters of Biology to come. But just recently, I’ve ended up with an entire other storyline that birthed itself from the bag of cats that is my brain, and ended up solidifying into the sequel to Biology, titled Chemistry.

The other chapters that were going to be in Biology are going to be included in Chemistry instead, which has a couple of story arcs and includes, among other things, college escapades and Jack’s brother, Jackson. ♥

I’m not sure if this will be a disappointment to any of you, but I certainly hope not. It’s just that the other story that I was originally planning to tell in Biology actually works BETTER in Chemistry, and I also liked the idea of ending Biology at an even 30 chapters, instead of 37 or 38.

In any case, I really hope to keep you guys entertained with the sequel as much as I have with the original, so at least give it a try, even if you might be kind of dubious about it atm!

Other than that, I really just want to thank everyone who’s been so supportive and the whole community for welcoming me with open arms right off the bat. Also, a million thanks to [Kit](http://kit-replica.tumblr.com/), who drew the lovely cover image for me, and who is going to draw the cover for Chemistry at some point too.

And finally~

I LOVE YOU GUYS. THANKS FOR STICKING IN THERE WITH ME. ♥♥♥

-Sena


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